Somewhere I will find you
by HeavenStar2703
Summary: [AU Time-Travel] At the end of the Fourth Ninja War, as all lied dead at his feet, Naruto made a wish to the fickle fate for another chance. But for such a thing to happen, there was a cost. Witness Team 7 in a turbulent world trying to recreate history during troubled times. Would they finally achieve their own happy-ending this time around? [Era of Warring States][NaruSakuSasu]
1. Prologue

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Prologue_

* * *

Amidst the blood and corpses of the war-torn battlefield, Naruto wanted to laugh at the man who told him that if you wished for something strongly enough, fate would grant it to you.

It was a damnable lie. For all his life, fate had never granted him anything but disappointment, one after another. It teased and taunted with probability of success, with glimmer of hope that something good would finally come to him, before taking it all away in an instant.

One moment, he thought he finally had everything he worked so hard for, the acceptance he had craved from the village that used to hate him for something they did to him. He was even well on his way to win over the only woman he had ever loved and to restore Team 7, the only family that he had ever had.

Only to be taken away in a blink of an eye by the stupid, pointless war that ended with no victory, even to the instigator himself who now numbered among the perished.

Fate was a bitch, he decided. A cruel, cruel bitch that enjoyed the suffering of mankind.

As he looked through his blood-filled vision, he found her dead, broken body lying a few feet away from where he stood. Her rose-colored hair forming a halo around her face, and she would have looked absolutely angelic saved for the blood trailing from the numerous wounds inflicted upon her. The yin seal on her forehead was gone. Her skin, which was already pale, was covered in a white-sheen of death that made her seemed even more ethereal, a stark contrast with the deep red blood made her skin looked even more translucent.

Her beauty in death was simply too heartbreaking to witness, and he felt a lone tear slipped from the corner of his eyes.

As his shaking feet stumbled his way to her, determined to be with her even in death as they were in life, he noticed another body lying on its stomach next to her with one arm thrown protectively over her, as if to protect her from harm.

Already disoriented from heavy blood loss, it took a while for Naruto to realize that the arm on Sakura belonged to Sasuke, and his heart clenched painfully. The time they shared together as Team 7 in life had been as brief as the cherry blossom season, but it became to pinnacle that cemented them together irrevocably. It became the reason that drove almost all his subsequent actions.

As Naruto took one last look at the man he regarded as friend and brother, relentless pangs of regret assaulted his fatigued heart. The Uchiha Prodigy's life had been nothing but a wasteful regret. He had forsaken Team 7 that he regarded as his new family in order to avenge his old one. He suffered endless hardships and heartbreaks, lashed out at allies and enemies alike, did what he thought was righteous only to find that they were all but a pawn of a mad man, that all he did meant nothing. All the revenge, all the sacrifice, they never mattered.

Naruto understood so well that Sasuke's heart, despite it all, held a kind of purity of a naïve child that could not let go of an ideal, and it was that which led him to such a dark path that caused endless cycle of tragedies. Had he not taken the path he did, Naruto was sure they would have been…

Actually, Naruto wasn't sure what they would have been, but he was sure it would be better than this. They would have all been together as Team 7, at least, and that surely would be better than anything. They might have fought, because Naruto knew that deep down, Sasuke did love Sakura as much as he did, but the bond between them would keep them together in the end, he was sure of it.

He saw that while Sasuke's eyes were closed, his expression was by no mean peaceful. It was filled with the same stubborn defiance that it did in life. Naruto could still see the blood stain forming a clear streak under his eyes, indicating an over-usage of his eye power. As his eyes travelled down, he finally noticed a chokuto protruding out from Sasuke's back. Someone must have stabbed him right through his heart. Swift as it was, his death must have been a painful one.

Weeping bitterly now, Naruto knelt down hard next to the bodies that once belonged to his teammates. The action caused his wound to open a little and more blood came gushing down, soaking his jacket. He ignored the pain as he slowly laid himself down besides Sakura and draped one of his arms over her body and Sasuke's arm.

As he felt his consciousness starting to slip away, he could not help but wish that there was something that he could have done to prevent such an ending. As he watched Sakura's pale, lifeless yet always beloved face with a trace of dried-up tears and Sasuke's with blood and anguish written all over, he longed to be the fool that he once was, the fool who believed that if he worked hard enough, fate would one day grant him his wish. That one day, fate would finally grant them the chance to be together at long last.

In his moment of weakness, he wished for a chance to do it all over again.

And he swore he would find them again.

It was the last thing on his mind before consciousness completely slipped away.

* * *

When Sasuke woke, his mind became clear it an instant. Strict training and discipline enabled him to clear his mind from sleep in a blink of an eye. Yet, he remained still and did not open his eyes.

He began at once to assess his surrounding carefully. All around him was quiet and he heard a familiar sound of cicada song outside. It must be nighttime, he concluded. He was on a futon with his body covered to the chin by a thick blanket, so he surmised that for the moment, he was safe.

Slowly, he opened his eyes. He saw only darkness, but it posed no problem to his trained eyes. He listened again to make sure no one was around, and he rose to get up.

And he was startled to see his own hand over the blanket.

It was smaller than he remembered. In fact, it was so small that it could not belong to anyone older than five.

He stood up, looking around frantically to see where he was or if there was anything that could tell him what had happened. He tried to see where the light switch was, but could not find any. Instead, there was an ancient-looking oil lamp on the table in the center of the room, so he lid that instead.

He found himself in a spacious, if traditionally-looking bedroom that was beautifully decorated. Not far from the futon he had laid on, there was what seemed to be a dressing table with an ancient-looking polished copper looking glass on it. Sasuke ran over and looked into the glass immediately, dreading what he would see, only to have his fear confirmed.

Uchiha Sasuke, the most feared and powerful ninja of his generation, had returned to his five year-old body.

* * *

Roughly the same time, somewhere far away, a blonde ninja was finding himself in the same predicament, and havoc ensued all around him.

"Where the hell am I?!" He ran through winding corridors that seemed endless, determined to find an exit. He felt tired, he felt feverish, but he could not afford to stop. Not now.

Not until he found them.

Just as he thought he found an exit and ran madly toward it, he was pulled back by a pair of much larger hands. He thrashed and fought to free himself to no avail. He shouted at the mysterious hands to let him go, but they held fast. Commotions began to reign over, and more people rushed to surround him. He cried out desperately as he felt himself falling unconscious again.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke!"

He felt dizziness taking over his mind again as he thought he heard shouts for physicians and anxious bustling echoed all around him. He felt himself being scooped up by a pair of strong arms and he was being rushed back to where he ran from. He wanted to cry out for those mysterious arms to stop, to put him back where he was. He needed to go, he needed to find them, even if he had to claw his way out. He felt hot tears stinging his eyes as he tried to move and couldn't.

Then, before darkness claimed him, he managed one last coherent thought.

_Sakura-chan, where are you?_

* * *

**Author's Note**

Well, there it is, my first attempt of long, multi-chapter NaruSakuSasu.

Prologue is short, well, because I uploaded to wrong document, to be honest. Such a silly mistake, despite having posted other stories before :(

Ah, well. I'll just save the rest for the next chapter, since I don't want reader to miss those parts (in case they don't come back and reread the prologue).

Hopefully, people will like this. Finger crossed. Let me know what you think of this, eh? Reviews are especially helpful in a long story like this one. I can make it more interesting for you to read, too.

Anyway, thanks for reading. See you next chapter.

Oh, and Happy New Year to all!

PS. Blatant advertising: please visit my other stories, **Lately I wonder... **and **Sakura-chan's Homemade Meals**!


	2. Chapter 1

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 1_

* * *

**_7 years later_**

"Sakura, are you there?" A voice roused the twelve year-old Sakura from her reverie as she sat crossed-leg, watching the river current flowing past her quaint little town. She set aside the two origami boats she made from the fallen leaves, slowly got up and gingerly brushed the dust from her kimono as Tenten made her way down from the hill through the bushes of flowers toward the riverside.

She came to stand next to Sakura and patted her affectionately on her shoulder. "Daydreaming, Sakura?" she asked, her smile as friendly and her manner as easy as Sakura remembered.

So, she smiled back at her friend, thankful that she wasn't completely alone in the new world she found herself stranded in. Even though Tenten didn't remember the past, she had not lost the optimistic yet practical disposition that Sakura had always admired. It was comfortable to be near her, and she suspected it was, in part, her own desire to cling to the past as much as possible.

It was thus that they became fast friends once again, even in this life.

"Not exactly daydreaming." Sakura finally answered, her finger pointing toward the river. "I was observing."

Tenten snickered. "Oh yes, because the still waters are particularly interesting this time of year!" The words were pure sarcasm, but the voice held no malice, only cheeky amusement.

Sakura laughed, but soon after her expression turned worrisome as she persisted. "No, Tenten, I was actually looking at the water level."

"What about it?" She asked flippantly, before realization hit her. "Wait. This is about the draught that the town council were talking about, right? They were really worried when they talked about it."

Tenten should know. After all, her foster father, the town blacksmith and head of town guard, was on it, and the council meeting was often held at their place.

Sakura nodded. "Exactly, the water level is too low. If this continues, the town will produce only about half the crops we had last year."

"Whew, how can you tell that just by looking at the water level?" While Tenten looked grim, she seemed impressed at new piece of information presented by her friend. "Studying with the old scholar must have really paid off!"

Sakura smiled as she thought of Nohara Yasuhiro, who was the retired scholar of the Royal Library in the Capital of the Land of Fire. Sakura first met him when he came by her parents shop to buy some cloth for his winter attire. Sakura had been eight year-old at the time, and the old man took a liking to her immediately, saying that she somehow reminded him of his lost granddaughter. The old sage had found her company and endless questions a nice change of pace, and decided to make her his apprentice and allowed her the full access to his own library, much to her delight.

For Sakura, studying with the kindly old sage had been a God-given opportunity. Ever since her first arrival here on her fifth birthday (so to speak), she had been utterly lost by not knowing what was different, what was going on in this world. It also did not help that her family chose to settle in a town so remote and secluded. So, being an apprentice to the retired scholar had helped her to find a way to reacquaint herself with the rest of the world.

Yet, this was viewed by the people in this town as strange, for what need would a girl have to be so learned or to be able to read or write beyond her own name. They could not understand why a girl such as her would need to read tomes and scrolls when what she really needed to learn were housekeeping skills. That way, she would be able to catch a good husband. However, seeing how eccentric Sakura's own parents were, they simply shrugged and minded their own business for the most part.

"Your parents are really nice to let you off from all your duties at the shop!" Tenten sounded a little jealous. "My dad never let me get away from the forge for long!"

Sakura thanked God fervently once again for not taking away her parents. She shuddered slightly as she remembered how afraid she was the first time she woke up as herself here, and how relieved she was when she saw her own parents. They, however, no longer resided in Konoha. Instead, they were settled here in the small town here with her parents plying their trades as merchant who owned a small cloth shop in town.

Thankfully, with their skills at bargaining with trading caravan that regularly passed through here, they were able to prosper at this profession and although their livelihood was by no mean rich or luxurious, they were able to live in relative comfort and were regarded as well-off, considering the size of their town.

"You know," Tenten suddenly continued in a much quieter voice as she stared at the faraway horizon beyond the river. "Sometimes, I'm really jealous of your parents. I wish… I wish I knew who mine were."

But then, Tenten recovered quickly from her melancholy. "Oh, I almost forgot. Mrs. Haruno asked for you! I was on an errand to your place, so she asked me to tell you to go back soon. I should get back as well before my dad starts to wonder where I am."

She winked cheerfully, though it seemed a little bit forced. "I'll see you later, Sakura!" And then she was off like the wind.

This was another thing that saddened and scared Sakura so much about the new world she was in. History was changed, rewritten, and consequently, there was a cost, a price each of them had to pay. For Tenten, it was the loss of her original family.

While she did not otherwise differ much from her past-self, she could never be the same again. She could never smile as brightly as she did, she could never be as cheerful as she was.

She couldn't be whole again.

It was why Sakura was determined to recreate Konoha once again…

For in this world, it did not exist. The alliance between the Senju and Uchiha clan never came through with the death of Uchiha Madara in place of Uchiha Izuna. From then on, the enmity between the two most powerful clans multiplied tenfold. With Izuna as the new head of the clan, the Uchiha's attack on the Senju became even more ferocious and personal, and the Senju, even with Hashirama as the leader, was forced to retaliate in the end for the sake of the clan's survival.

Thus, the cycle of hatred and destruction continued, and without the Hidden Leaf village as the model, the other hidden villages ceased to exist altogether. Sakura could not bear to think of how many lives were impacted by this change, how many separation that could have been prevented happened, how many deaths that could have been forgone occurred.

And so, creating the Hidden Leaf had become her goal. Knowing the history of the 'Era of Warring States' and witnessing the extended version of it in reality, she vowed to herself she would build the sanctuary for which shinobi and civilians alike could live together in peace, that the children could grow into their full potential before their lives were snuffed out like candle in the storm, that the parents could grow old to watch that happened.

But she knew it would be difficult, nearly impossible for her to do. She was no daydreamer. Being clanless, she did not have any power, connections, or influence to speak of to manage such a feat. And she was no leader material, this she understood and accepted a long time ago.

This was one of those times when she missed her teammate even more than she already did constantly. She longed to know how each of them were doing, if they were alive, if they were well…

If they remembered…

Sakura picked up the two leaf boats she folded earlier and gently put them in the water. Immediately, the current picked the boats up and in a blink of an eye, they both were sailed out of her sight.

Sakura made her way back to the shop and home. Her progress was necessarily slow as she was wearing the geta and kimono, as was common with cilvilians, instead of her ninja sandals and outfit like the shinobi. This was also one difference that made Sakura longed for her old world. The more comfortable and form-fitting clothing had apparently not made it to this world, a fact which Sakura thought was regrettable. While shinobi clothing was more form-fitting and therefore allowed much more freedom of movement, it was still traditionally-styled. While Sakura had no problem with that, she did miss her more modern-looking clothes sorely at times.

More importantly, as the wars between clans went on as ferociously as ever, the development of crucial knowledge in many areas that was supposed to happen faltered. Consequently, many technologies, including electricity and many other comfort-providing appliances, were missing from this world. Sakura could not even begin to describe how much she missed her kotatsu table and washing machine.

Nevertheless, all she could do was gritted her teeth and made do without them and swore to all and any God in Heaven above that she would bring back Konoha, no matter the cost.

* * *

Eventually, she made it back to her place and entered the workshop behind the house itself. She saw her mother supervising the hired girls who was working on the looms, starting on weaving new pieces of fabric. Haruno Mebuki was in deep concentration as she inspected the girls' work and therefore didn't notice her daughter's return until she came to stand next to her.

"Ah, Sakura, you're just in time!" She stepped away from the loom to greet her wayward daughter. "Your father has just returned with the caravan!"

Sakura's eyes lit happily at that. Her father, who became a merchant instead of the eternal genin, was often away and she had missed his presence acutely, despite his cheesy jokes.

"He is still talking with his new associates. I think we should join him." And with that, both mother and child went back into the house. They could hear the resounding laugh that belonged to Haruno Kizashi clearly as well as other unfamiliar voices. This was a common occurrence as he often invited them over for both business discussion and a night of relaxation, so the impromptu meeting did not surprise her.

What surprised her were the visitors.

In their living room sat three strangers who Sakura supposedly had not seen before. Yet she knew them.

There, in their rustic little home, sat Shiranui Genma, Gekko Hayate and Uzuki Yugao, formerly, in another life, Konoha ninja. Sakura felt her step halted and she stood frozen there. The memories of them from the past returned all at once, and she couldn't decide if she should hyperventilate here or leave to do so elsewhere.

Luckily for Sakura, she had to do neither, for Kizashi turned and beckoned loudly for his wife and daughter to come take a seat with them.

"Come, come. Meet my new associates here! They are from the Capital!" Then he turned to Sakura, grinning widely. He gestured for her to sit next to him and proceeded to introduce both parties to each other. Mebuki greeted the guests warmly and they made all the polite remarks required by decorum before she excused herself to see to the preparations for dinner.

"I know you're curious about the Capital, young lady. Now you can ask them all about it!" Kizashi said to his daughter and winked conspiratorially. Sakura could only smile tightly back, but thankfully her father didn't find anything amiss, and kept the flow of relaxing conversation with the guests going steadily.

After a while, the conversation was steered back to business, and Genma and Yugao became much more animated at the change of topic. Seeing no trace of recognition in their eyes, Sakura's attention slowly drifted from either of them to the remaining member of the group. Then, her attention was caught by a sword rested by his side. The sight of his favored weapon at his side somehow made Sakura breathe easier.

Seeing her curious glance, Hayate smiled kindly at her and asked. "Are you familiar with this, Sakura-san?" His hand rested upon the weapon almost lovingly.

Seeing his friendliness, Sakura relaxed a little. "I've seen similar ones at the town smithy, but I wouldn't know how to use it." Then, before she could stop herself, she blurted out. "Are you a ninja, Hayate-san?"

"Me, a ninja? No, no. Thank goodness for that." Hayate chuckled amusedly. "Rather, I'm something more like a… a swordmaster, if you like. Something more akin to samurai than a ninja, but my skill level is nowhere near that of either group."

He shrugged nonchalantly as he continued. "But as you can see, my main profession is trading, and I travel with the caravan to ensure safe delivery. So my mediocre skill is enough."

"Oh." Although lost for words, Sakura was gladdened to hear this. It was good to know that something did not completely changed. "And what about Genma-san and Yugao-san?"

"Oh, Yugao is a swordmaster such as myself, but the only skill Genma here has is with his abacus." Hayate commented, earning himself a baleful glare from his friend which he chuckled away. "And cooking, of course." The latter comment was laden with sarcasm.

Sakura giggled as Genma thrown a chestnut at Hayate's head with deadly accuracy. Yugao glared at both men and smiled at Sakura apologetically.

"Men," she said deprecatingly. "They are always childish at such an inappropriate time." Then she winked at Sakura. "Wouldn't you say, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura was a little taken aback at the friendliness of the older woman. The Yugao she remembered was a stoic and serioius ANBU who hardly ever showed any emotion, except when she confronted her lover, Hayate. But Sakura quickly recovered and smiled shyly back at the dark-haired lady.

Then her father asked if he was included in the statement, to which Sakura immediately replied in the affirmative. The three guests burst out laughing while Kizashi pretended to be hurt, but no one was fooled. The conversation then returned to lighthearted matters until Mebuki came to inform them that dinner was ready. The rest of the evening proceeded smoothly, and after they were done, the guests took their leave and went back to the hotel with Kizashi walking them.

Sakura retired to her bedroom after that. Once alone, the smile that plastered on her face fell apart and her expression became pensive. Seeing the familiar faces in such a different light did not get easier. In fact, the memories made it even more painful, as she unconsciously compared them with what they used to be. She should harden her heart against this, knowing that there was nothing she could do to change the current situation.

If only she could control her feelings like her chakra…

Nevertheless, she still wanted to talk to them despite the painful remembrance. She wanted to know what was going on in their lives and hopefully find more information about the Capital as her father suggested.

For it was her next goal, or rather, destination. With her intention to restore Konoha, she knew she needed to move on from this little town on the outskirts of the Land of Fire.

But she delayed telling them of her decision, and therefore delayed leaving her home as well. She was reluctant to leave her parents, knowing how much pain her departure would inflict upon them. She kept delaying so much that she feared her conviction was already slipping out of her mind altogether.

After all, it would be so much easier to just forget, to just stay where she was and to enjoy what she now had. Her conscience, however, rebelled wildly against this illusion of peace, and her heart was torn in two because of it.

_Should she stay, or should she go?_

The question went unanswered for the time being.

* * *

Morning came, and Sakura got up to her every day routine as usual. Breakfast, checking shop inventory, opening the store, supervising the weaving at the workshop. But her mind was not on the work.

She could not help thinking about Hayate-san and his group. Now that her mind was clear and refreshed from a night's sleep, she wanted to talk to them again. She wanted to learn more about them and the information they had.

She wanted to know if they knew something about Naruto and Sasuke.

Sakura cursed herself for not thinking of it last night, when she had ample opportunities to subtly ask them about such a thing. Now, she would need a pretext to go and ask them in an unsuspicious manner, since the information she wanted was quite specific and any topic regarding ninja activities was always treated with suspicion these days. Asking blatantly could plainly invite trouble. At best, if she was lucky, they would think her irrelevant. At worst, however, they might suspect she was involved in ninja activities, which could lead to unpredictable consequences, as she did not know their connections. Thanks to her thoughtlessly asking if he was a ninja, she had to be especially careful in phrasing her question this time.

If she got the opportunity, that was.

"Sakura," her mother came with a package of neatly wrapped silk in hand. "I need you to deliver this to Hayate-san as soon as possible. Your father forgot to give this to them yesterday and I don't know when they'd leave."

She pushed the package to Sakura. "You'd best make haste."

Finally, luck seemed to be on her side. Sakura almost broke into a run if not for the stupid geta she had to wear, not to mention how movement-restrictive wearing a kimono was. She made her way quickly through town, stopping only to wave to those she knew in town.

Approximately ten minutes later, she arrived at the inn and immediately asked one of the maids for the whereabouts of Hayate. The shy young girl pointed toward the secluded garden at the back, bowed and left to fulfil her duties as Sakura hurriedly followed the indicated direction.

She found Hayate in his sword practice, his brows furrowed in concentration as he precisely controlled the angle of the sword as it slashed through air. If he noticed her presence, he did not give any indication of it, so Sakura decided to wait. She walked over to sit down on the nearby bench, and as she watched the renowned sword-dance that Hayate was famous for in Konoha, she was glad that it was another thing that did not disappear.

As Hayate gracefully completed his training and returned his sword to its scabbard, he turned to smile gently at Sakura.

"What can I do for you today, Sakura-san?" He greeted politely.

Sakura got up and handed him the parcel she was given by Mebuki. "My father forgot to give this to you yesterday, Hayate-san. I hope it didn't cause any inconvenience."

"Not at all. Thank you very much." Hayate took the parcel from her and fingered it gently. "Would you mind if I opened it right here?"

Sakura shook her head, and so the parcel was opened to reveal a neatly folded white silk shot with elaborate embroidery of silver crane. Sakura recognized it at once as one of her mother's finest creation on the loom. It took her years to finish this masterpiece, and for her father to part with this, well, it must have cost Hayate a fortune.

"Is this for Yugao-san?" Sakura ventured to ask. The white silk was almost always specifically used as main components for a bridal attire, so she asked hopefully. "Are you getting married?"

"Dear God, no!" Hayate laughed out loud at that. "She would never forgive me for buying something that expensive, not to mention we're already married."

Sakura looked at him expectantly, the question clearly written on her face. _Who is this for, then?_

"In fact," Hayate answered. "This is for the bride of Uchiha Itachi, the Heir to the Uchiha Clan."

* * *

**Author's Note**

It seems I can never make a long chapter. This is probably because I have short attention span, or because I'm lazy.

Probably both.

But then I always thought long chapter doesn't always make a good chapter. If a chapter contains no progress and drags on forever, I don't think it's a good chapter. Now if a chapter is long AND completely action-packed, _that _is what I'd call a perfect chapter.

Hopefully, my chapter, while short, makes enough progress to keep the reader interested.

Now we come to the part where an author either entreats, demands, cleverly uses their words in some way to get as much reviews as possible (lol). And since I'm just as mortal as a lot of writers out there, I'm going to do just that. But since I'm no good with clever wordings...

I'm just going humbly begged for reviews.

Sad to be me, isn't it?

PS. Blatant advertising time. My other stories are **Lately I wonder **and **Sakura-chan's Homemade Meals**. If you have some time, go check it out, yeah?


	3. Chapter 2

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 2_

* * *

"Uchiha Itachi's… bride?" she repeated, feeling her heart accelerated at the information. Sakura's mind raced frantically to find ways to get more information without seeming overly interested.

"Yes. Apparently, as the heir to the clan, he has the obligation to marry when he turned eighteen next year." Then, he snickered. "Not that he had much choice. The candidates are still being selected within the clan."

"Why not from some other clan? I thought that being the heir to the Uchiha Clan would make him the biggest catch for most women. Not to mention other clans would be eager to make alliance with the Uchiha"

"That's true, of course." Hayate replied. "But you see, Uchiha Clan forbade its heir from inter-clan marriage for fear of infiltration into its leadership, and more importantly, for the preservation of their precious bloodline. The Uchiha noble is quite disdainful of 'diluted blood'".

Hayate nervously cleared his throat, as he looked around habitually to see that no one was listening. "Regardless, it's good profit for my trade. They are paying huge sum of money for the preparations of the wedding. What they spent on the bride clothes alone could buy an entire city."

"They are quite rich, then?"

Hayate chuckled, genuinely amused at the question. "What word did Genma use last time? Ah yes, 'loaded' was the term. They are, I quote, 'literally dripping with gold from head to toe with every step they take'. So, indeed, they are _quite_ rich, little girl."

Sakura giggled at that, feeling a little silly at the question. _When had the Uchiha ever not been rich?_

Hayate began to inspect the silk again. "This is a rare find, indeed. My caravan scoured the Capital for something like this for months, and yet I can recall nothing that can compare to this masterpiece. The embroidery details are simply stunning. It looks as if the cranes are just about the fly out of the fabric."

Sakura knew the praise had not come from politeness and inwardly beamed with pride. Her mother was quite famous for her skills with loom and needle, and every time she started working on a new piece, she would invariably produce breathtaking result. Every piece of her work that father decided to sell would be snapped up within a month at a price that would leave mouths gaping. Sakura herself had helped with the very minor embroidery in this piece as well, so she decided that partial credit was due to her, too.

"You wouldn't have more pieces like this hidden away somewhere, would you?" He asked, his voice hopeful. "We could make some substantial profit with this."

Sakura never saw a business-oriented part of Hayate before, but decided it wasn't a bad thing as it was probably equivalent to his previous dedication to his shinobi duties. "Well, my mother hasn't produced many pieces lately, due to the strain on her eyesight, but we have many others that may catch your eyes. I also have my own works if you're interested. It may not be as good or fetch as high a price, but you are welcome to take a look and see if there's anything that you can find a use for."

If he had any doubt about her skills, considering her age, he did not show it. Hayate smiled and bowed slightly. "That would be welcomed, Sakura-san." She hurriedly bowed back.

Then, after he was satisfied that everything was in order, he began to roll the delicate white silk back in its original packaging, but found that his hands were too clumsy to handle the delicate fabric. Sakura went and took over the task of gently refolding the fabric neatly into its place. Hayate mumbled his thanks, and seeing that he had become comfortable with their talks, Sakura took another opportunity to inquire further.

"And is Itachi the only heir to the clan?" Sakura resumed her questioning as she smoothed the fabric with slightly trembling hand. "Does he have any sibling?"

"Ah yes, he has a younger brother, Uchiha Sasuke, who is second-in-line for the clan leadership." Hayate mused quietly. "But, lately, there are… whispers… saying he should be the heir instead of Itachi."

Her eyes went wide at that. She almost let an inaudible gasp escaped her lips as she caught herself in time from doing that.

"There are rumors that he is the youngest Uchiha to ever awaken his Mangekyo sharingan, for one thing." He seemed hesitant to speak of the subject, so Sakura did not press him, but waited with baited breath for him to continue.

"There are also talks that many Uchiha clansmen are starting to wonder if Itachi is fit to lead the clan." His voice was now reduced to barest of whispers. "They think he is too kind, too soft. They wonder if he has what it takes to lead the Uchiha to greatness."

Sakura carefully phrased her question. "And they believe that this… Sasuke… could do that?"

Hayate went still. "He is certainly capable of that. God knows he is powerful and ferocious enough for such a young boy. But… he can be very unpredictable at times."

"How?"

"Sometimes he can be… kind." The word didn't come easily. "He treated the surrendered enemies and prisoners of war far better than some of his compatriots, and showed unexpected patience with those well below his station."

"Yet," he continued with darkened expression. "Other times, he would be completely merciless, torturing prisoners for information, destroying innocent villages just to ensure the death of his enemies."

Sakura felt her heart lurched painfully.

"One thing that is certain is his commitment to his family. Whatever he does, it is always, first and foremost, in the interest of his family. He is absolutely loyal to Uchiha Fugaku, and is devoted to his mother, Uchiha Mikoto. He always has his brother's back in battle, and gets very protective of him at times. All in all, he is a perfect Uchiha…"

Sakura's eyes lit up at the mention of Sasuke's family. _His family… they are alive!_ Her heart fluttered and she felt an invisible weight being lifted from her heart.

"Why such an interest in the Uchiha Clan, Sakura-san?" Hayate asked, and lightness Sakura was feeling dissipated instantly. "Is there something in particular you wish to know about them?"

Sakura stopped herself from shaking her head violently in denial. It would have made her looked even more suspicious. So, instead, she simply shrugged and replied in a voice as steady as she could manage.

"Not Uchiha Clan, not really anyway, Hayate-san." Then she leaned in closer to Hayate. "It's more like being a ninja, you know? It's…"

Hayate waited for her answer.

"It's so… romantic!" She blurted out. Secretly, she prayed her acting of child-like fascination was convincing enough. "It's like they all have this amazing abilities that we don't, and they can do so much! And they have so much power and money, and they can do anything!"

She paused for breath and tried to surreptitiously gauged Hayate's expression through her shielded eyelashes.

"And some of the stories I read… it's like they are heroes!"

Hayate seemed surprised at hearing this, and his lips curved into a grim and derisive smile. Then he beckoned her closer and knelt down so that his face was levelled with hers. Sakura walked toward him with her heart drumming madly in her chest, fearing that he wasn't convinced of her explanations.

But he simply took her hands into his, and stared seriously and solemnly into her eyes.

"Sakura-san," his voice deep and serious. "While it is true that there are heroic ninjas who defends the weak and protects the poor like in the story you read, made no mistake. For every honorable ninja out there, there are a hundred more who are nothing but scums, thieves, or murderers, or all of it."

Seeing Sakura's shocked reaction, he mistook it that she was scared by his words. His expression softened into an apologetic one as he continued.

"I didn't mean to frighten you, Sakura-san, but I don't want you to have this misconception..."

Then, he swallowed thickly, and he spoke again with the saddest voice Sakura had ever heard from him. "Please believe me, I learned this the hard way. Had I been less trusting and more careful, I…"

Abruptly, he stopped himself from saying more and stood up so suddenly that Sakura took a step back, startled. His face mellowed, and hesitantly, he reached out to ruffle her hair gently.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Sakura-san." He apologized. Sakura shook her head vigorously at that, earning a kind smile from the older man. After that, all talk of ninja was promptly abandoned and Hayate offered to tell her of the Capital and many cities that he and his caravan went to, to which Sakura listened attentively.

Hayate would have been a good storyteller, for he was very detailed in his description of the various placed he travelled to and he knew just what his audience would like hear. Yet, there was no fondness of any place in particular, only a sort of detachment that made the story sounded bleaker than it should have been. Nonetheless, Sakura enjoyed receiving this new knowledge, and when the moment seemed right, she took her leave.

Strangely enough, Hayate seemed a little disappointed to see her go, but he smiled and waved a kind goodbye to her, promising to visit soon to see her own weavings. So Sakura gave him a big smile before running back to her house.

* * *

A few days later, Hayate made good on his promise, he brought Genma over to the Haruno's household to look at more fabric they had. Since her mother had gone out to the market with their neighbors, Sakura took them to the room in the back of the store to show them the collection they had compiled over the years that were available for sale.

If Sakura had thought that Hayate was quite business-oriented, Genma was even more so than his friend. He inspected each roll of fabric critically, looking at the color in different lighting and squinted closely at the embroidery. Sometimes he would toss a roll aside into the 'reject pile' despite Hayate's protest and exclaimed that his friend had no taste. At other times, he would pick something Hayate didn't quite like, and he would call him conservative. The selection process went on in the same manner throughout, much to Sakura's amusement and secret entertainment.

Halfway through, however, one of the caravan men came bearing a message from Yugao, asking for Hayate. So, with a polite apology, Hayate got up and left Genma to finish the selection. Now that Hayate left, the two continued their session with companionable chatter to fill in the silence. Genma had always been a charming man, and was naturally the friendlier of the two.

"I'm surprised to find such craftsmanship here, of all place." Genma complimented as he cradled a roll of the dark blue silk embroidered in a pattern of ocean waves with gold thread, then placed it carefully on the increasingly high 'accept pile'. "The embroidery is so detailed, so life-like. And the color! So vibrant, and just the right shade. The noble ladies in the Capital will be fighting to the death over this!"

The exaggerated claim had Sakura giggling like the twelve-year old girl that she was supposed to be. Genma, as if on cue, feigned indignation instantly as he exclaimed. "It's true, Sakura-chan! Don't you believe me? Do you not know how very competitive and vulture-like these ladies are behind their pretensions? They always appeared so nice to each other when they are together, but when they are alone, they always plot to outdo each other with a new kimono or gaudy hairpin!"

Then, in an artificial high-pitched tone that was eerily similar to the original, he mimicked the noble ladies, all the while swishing a pretend-fan in his hand around wildly. "Genma, you oaf! You must find me a better fabric than the last time, for Lady-Toad had just got a new houmongi which is truly a work of art but completely wasted on her! I will be not be seen out and about in anything inferior! And don't sell anything that beautiful to her again, or I swear I'll have my husband thrown you in jail!"

The performance was so convincing that Sakura believed that nothing had ever made her laugh so hard ever since her arrival in this world. By the time she was done, she was thoroughly out of breath, and Genma was grinning from ear to ear. He ruffled her neatly pull-backed hair into a state of mess, despite her protests. His smug smile didn't disappear as she grumbled and sorted out her hair.

They continued looking through the collection in relative peace and constant chatter. He looked at another roll of dark silk with a more austere design and much less flashy embroidery.

"This one is a little different from the others." He considered it carefully for the moment. "Much less elaborate embroidery, but still elegant. The style is definitely different."

"Oh, that. That is my work, actually." Sakura took the fabric from Genma and unrolled it on the table. The fabric was of the darkest of blue that it was almost black, with silver thread embroidered into a pattern of lightening on one side. Admittedly, Sakura attempted to make another pattern altogether in the beginning, but got lazy, and thus this piece was produced with a stroke of creativity and a lot of luck.

"Brilliant design." Genma murmured, seemingly impressed. "It looked like a night sky with thunder storm. This will do very well indeed."

"Oh? Who are you planning to sell it to?" Sakura asked. She could hardly imagine the noble ladies of the Capital, who usually preferred a much more feminine designs, to actually like such a sharp, strong pattern.

"Well, we supply the New Year clothes for the Uchiha Household regularly, and the Clan Matriarch asked me to find something special for second son. What's his name…? Ah, Sasuke. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke. It's for his coming-of-age ceremony, I think."

Sakura felt as if the lightening on the fabric just electrified her on the spot.

"Well, I think this is all of them." He looked over the two piles again before giving a satisfactory nod. "I'll order the men to come and take these tomorrow morning."

With that, he got up and left. Sakura picked up the dark blue silk and rushed back to her room.

* * *

The following morning, the first thing Sakura did was sending a note with one of the men picking up the silk that she needed a day to repair the embroidery on the dark blue silk that she just spotted.

Then, she swiftly made her way to the old sage's home, only to find that Tenten was there already. Despite her love of weapons and her proficiency with them, Tenten defied the stereotype of mindless warrior by her love of research and learning. Her love of reading could only be matched by that of Sakura's herself, and her mind was quick and agile. Because of this, the old sage was as fond of her as Sakura, if not more.

However, due to her foster father's preconception that women and people of their social class in general didn't need to be so learned, he often forbade Tenten to come and put her to other work instead. Sakura knew that her friend resented this, as she fought and argued against the restriction in the beginning, but she was too dutiful to really argue over the point and upset him any further than she had already done after their last quarrel. Still, she would find the time, like today, to come and read to her heart's content every once in a while, and if her foster father noticed, he never made any comment about it. So Sakura guessed it was a sort of quiet compromise that had not been spoken out loud, yet understood by all those involved.

Tenten looked up to see Sakura's arrival and smiled before turning her attention back to what she was reading. She surrounded herself with books on history of weaponry designs and fighting techniques, as this was her favorite subject. Usually, Sakura would immerse herself in history of medical knowledge or herbal cure and poison compendium. Today, however, she went for to a different shelf and took out the one focusing on sealing techniques.

Hours passed in complete silence as Tenten was utterly drowned in her readings. However, Sakura was skimming through, furiously trying to find a technique that she could use to safely deliver a message to Sasuke without others finding out. However, luck did not seem to be on her side today. So far, she could find nothing that could unlock the sealing on its own for a specified recipient _without_ using chakra or some form on bodily components of the recipient himself. With each page turned, she became even more frustrated at the lack of apparent solution. She took a deep, calming breath and tried to reorganize her thoughts by running through her objectives once more.

She needed to make sure that the message she sent to Sasuke was unlocked by him and him only. She dared not think about the consequences of others discovering her message. Even more than that, she needed to take into account the possibility that Sasuke himself did not remember the past. What would happen then if she sent a long letter telling him of her story and location? Probably something disastrous. At best, he would ignore her message. At worst, he would send someone to kill her off before she could say 'Sasuke-kun'. To make matter worse, there was always a possibility that accidents would happen and this might never reach Sasuke at all.

Just as she was about ready to tear her hair out, the old sage whose library she was perusing poked his head over shoulder.

"Sealing techniques, I see." His voice more enthusiastic than usual as he read the book title aloud. "My area of expertise. In fact, I've written a few books on the subject myself."

Sakura rolled her eyes while Tenten drawled out. "Oh really. I thought that what you said about geography of the Land of Wind last week."

The old sage sputtered indignantly. "Well, it's true. It's ALL true, you know? You don't realize how fortunate you are to be under my vigilant supervision?"

Tenten only smirked and returned to her reading. Both she and Sakura knew that by 'vigilant supervision', he meant he took the time off to smoke his pipe in his own study and left the two of them to ransack his personal library as they wished.

The sage harrumphed at the young brunette and turned to look at the page Sakura was reading once more. "My, you're reading something quite complex, Sakura. Are you looking for something specific?"

Sakura paused to consider if asking the old sage should be safe, and then decided to go ahead with the question. "Say, if I want to seal something inside an item that will only unlock for a certain person once it is touched by that person, and only that person, how would I go about it?"

"Hmm, interesting… Only unlocked at a touch of a certain person, you say?" The sage's expression turned thoughtful.

"And you're not allowed to use any chakra and bodily component of that person either." Sakura added hurriedly. The sage frowned a little at this.

"What on earth are you up to, young lady?" He eyed her in a mock suspicion. "Oh well, it does get a lot more difficult if you're not allowed to use any component from the specified recipient. Usually, a tiny amount of chakra signature is best, blood is also often used for the recipients who cannot mold chakra. Without those as catalyst, I think it would be impossible to have such a specific target."

Tenten became interested in the discussion. "But what about cases where you need to send an urgent secret message to your allies and they're far away? Or the case that secret communication is needed on regular basis between two parties who are far away from each other? It is very impractical to have to, say, keep a store of your friend's blood just for this."

"Very true." The sage seemed visibly excited now with this intellectual challenge laid before him. "But you can use other predetermined condition that is known only to both parties to unlock the seal. For example, by inserting a jolt of any fire-natured chakra, and so on. Or something simpler if your correspondent is not a shinobi. Maybe the message can only be revealed at the touch of fire or water, for instant."

Sakura quietly listened and her brain began to work furiously.

* * *

In the end, without the catalyst, there was only so much Sakura could do. Nevertheless, she did what she could. Her hidden 'message' had been subtle and vague enough to avoid suspicion, should the worst come to pass, but if Sasuke truly remembered, she hoped he would understand it. And when the next morning came, she went to give the silk to Genma as promised, just as his caravan was about to leave.

"Hah, there she is!" He waved at Sakura as she approached the caravan. The men were hauling up chests after chests of various items, waiting to be sold. He took the carefully wrapped black silk from Sakura, who secretly let out a breath of relief, and told one of his men to put it in one of the chests and turned to thank Sakura.

"Appreciate the help, Sakura-chan!" His hand darted out to ruffle her hair, but Sakura anticipated this and sidestepped away, glaring daggers at him. Genma chuckled before he excused himself to oversee the rest of the packing being done.

"Where is your father, Sakura-chan?" Hayate asked. "We'd like to say thank you and goodbye to him before we leave."

"I'm afraid he is a little indisposed today." Sakura said apologetically. "He asked me to tell how sorry he is not to be able to see you before you leave in person and wish you a fair journey."

Hayate and Yugao murmured their condolences and well wishes for her father and asked her to send them their thanks for his hospitality, to which she readily assured them she would do. Then, with a few more words of goodbyes and well wishes, Sakura left.

* * *

After Hayate's group left, Sakura's life had returned to normalcy and its monotonous activities. On some days, she would wake up, open the shop, and supervise the workshop. On others, she would sneak off to read or train with Tenten, run errands for her mother, or take a walk by the river to dream of her 'lost' family.

And she grew increasingly restless with each passing day.

A month passed by, and still no sign that Sasuke had received her message. Then another month came and went. Sakura lived in a state of anxiety for the first few months, but as time flew past her with no news, she became numb to the sensation altogether and became listless.

Three months passed before Sakura decided that either her message went astray or was not understood.

She became more dejected, and this did not go unnoticed by her parents, of course. Sometimes, she would notice her mother's worried gaze on her when she thought Sakura was not looking, and she would find that her mother started to cook her favorite meals more often. Her father would try to use his cheerful, cheesy jokes with a much greater frequency in the hopes of cheering her up.

While she appreciated these things from the bottom of her heart, the restlessness did not alleviate in the slightest. Quite the opposite, in fact.

What she truly wanted was to get out there and do something. She wanted to go out there and find both Naruto and Sasuke and see them for herself, instead of waiting for scraps of news and be disappointed when she heard nothing and knew nothing.

She wanted to leave.

Thankfully, she had a person she could confine it unconditionally. Tenten was a good listener. While Sakura could not tell her about Naruto or Sasuke, she knew Tenten shared her ambition to leave, so she could understand and sympathized well with her current dilemma. The two of them would sometimes sit together at the riverside and dreamed of what life could be like in the Capital and of what they would make of themselves once there. Tenten longed to study in Fire Temple and trained to become the first female weapon master in Land of Fire, while Sakura told her in turn that one day she would become the greatest medic ninja ever to exist. They would giggle and smile at the pictures they made of their future-self, and that would help lessen the restlessness, albeit only temporarily.

So it was no surprise to Sakura when she returned home from her training with Tenten one evening to find her parents waiting for her.

"Sakura," her mother started gently. "Your father and I want to talk to you… about your future."

Sakura nodded quietly. Her father gestured with his usual cheerfulness for her to sit beside him, and she dutifully went, contemplating what she could say to them.

They sat together in silent, with her father making a few attempts to skirt around the issue, but Haruno Mebuki decided she would have none of it.

"I know you want to leave, Sakura." She threw it out bluntly. Her mother had always been direct and did not see much use in skirting around issues. A trait that Sakura naturally inherited, although not to the same extent due to her training as a ninja in another life.

Sakura nodded cautiously. The last thing she wanted was to upset her family, but she would not lie to them. Her father seemed a little deflated at the gesture, but otherwise, he said nothing. Her mother gave her the longest and hardest searching gaze, but Sakura did not turn anyway. Instead, she returned it with her own simple, honest gaze and readied herself for any reaction that might come.

At long last, her mother heaved a sigh and sat down. Her face relaxed into an unexpectedly gentle smile as she said to her only daughter.

"I've always known this day would come, ever since you were little." Her eyes stared at the distant memories. "You're always so talented and so clever. Both of us knew you're bound for something great. Certainly greater than this little town, but…"

She went over to sit next to her daughter and drew her gently into her arms. "It's more difficult than I thought, you know. It seems like just a little while ago you were just this small little girl who could fit so snugly in my arms, and now you're almost a woman now…"

Seeing her mother's tears brimming, Sakura's eyes turned glassy and she buried herself deeper into her mother's embrace. Then she felt her father's arms surrounded both her and her mother.

"Which is why," Mebuki continued to speak. "We decided to let you go to the Capital with Nohara-san."

* * *

**Author's Note**

Please bear with me. The next chapter will get much more interesting, and if nothing changes, I will start writing from someone else's POV the chapter after the next.

I would also like to take the time to thank those who favorited, followed, and especially those who reviewed. It really helped to know that somebody out there enjoyed reading the story. I mean, while I enjoy the act of writing in itself, knowing that others enjoy my writing is truly rewarding. So I would really like you all to know that I'm really thankful. I may not have time to reply to all the comments recently due to other commitments, but I'd like you to know I'm grateful all the same.

So, don't forget to review! It's my food for creativity and addiction! (Wait, what kind of a conclusion is this? Never mind. I'm too lazy to change this now.)

Good night, all! Or good morning, good afternoon, or good day in general, depending where you are.


	4. Chapter 3

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 3_

* * *

Sakura, Tenten and the old sage set off together with their escort when the sun painted the sky into the colors of dawn. Months of preparations and waiting out the harsh winter had finally come to an end, and Sakura bid a tear-filled goodbye to her parents as she braced herself for the journey that would take her to a new and unfamiliar life. Tenten, however, only looked straight ahead of her, pointedly ignoring the space where her father should have been.

The old sage had also asked for Tenten to come with him to the Capital as well, seeing how talented she was and how eager she was to learn. However, while Sakura's parents had acquiesced to this with understanding, Tenten's foster father had been a different matter entirely. The man, as stubborn and close-minded as he was, refused to hear of the old sage's request at all when the subject was broached. Tenten, however, would no longer take no for an answer. She gave an ultimatum that he either wished her a fair journey or be never more a father to her from now on. Furious, the man told Tenten that he no longer considered her his daughter, and she, in a fit of rage, stormed off with nothing but the clothes on her back to stay with Sakura until they could leave. Both Sakura and her parents had tried to talk Tenten and her father into reconciliation, but were only met with silence from the former, and outraged refusal from the latter. After a few attempts, the Haruno decided that the only thing they could do was to let them be.

Sakura had hoped that what little time was left might soften the angry sentiments on both sides. Yet, as they were about to leave, perhaps forever, no glance was spared backward. The only sign of weakness that could be detected was the cold hand that squeezed Sakura's tightly, as if clinging to the only source of heat she had left. The old sage, being the kind man that he was, tarried as long as possible, hoping for the last-minute change of heart, but at last he was forced to step up on the lavishly decorated carriage and let the carriage rolled them away onto the road to the Capital.

* * *

They were traveling northeast towards the Capital situated in the center of the Land of Fire from there little hometown in the southernmost part of country, flanked by the Land of Rivers to the west and the Land of Waves to the east. From bird-eye view, it would seem that they would be travelling straight in the northeast until they hit the Fire Capital.

In practice, however, it wasn't so simple. For such a seemingly simple path, this was a month-worth of travelling. While the way to the Capital was straightforward enough, the road itself was littered with travelers and caravans, especially since it had just become accessible once again after grueling months of winter when no one would be caught dead on the road. Therefore, as a matter of course, bandits and thieves were also there to recommence their trade with enthusiastic fervor. While the Fire Daimyo had his armies patrolling the routes to the Capital regularly to ensure the steady flow of trades and prosperity of his stronghold, the seat of his power, it was never quite enough to be completely rid of these opportunistic individuals or groups that sought to take advantage of the weak and helpless on the road. To most people, this had always been the way of things, but for Sakura, who had seen and known better, it was yet another reason that fuelled the fire of her ambition.

With this inadequate protection, most of the wealthy merchants often trained or hired guards to protect their persons and properties instead of relying on the irregular support of their Fire Lord. They often trained their own company of guards to be competent enough to scare off simple thieves without having to actually fight, and, bolstered in numbers as they usually were, they would more often than not fended off some of the lesser groups of bandits. Once in a while there would be some groups of bandits that managed to overwhelm the guards and take off with the goods, but these were not concern enough for the authorities, and the merchants themselves could do nothing but suffer through the occasional losses of profit and lives.

For the nobles of the Land of Fire, however, this was inadequate. Politics and power were dangerous games, where fortunes and lives were the currency traded and paid as the price of playing. Each failure almost always meant death. With such precious commodity at stake, superficial protection could not be tolerated, and who else were there for them to turn to except the ninja clans who were renowned for their prowess and their ruthlessness. Even during the time of peace, the demand for protection from such a formidable personnel had never ceased. Not to mention the fact that the enemy would often hire ninjas from the opposing clan to counter the ninja their target employed. Thus, it was only logical that battles between these ninja would occur on the road, the place where the target would be at its most vulnerable and where there would be no witness, or no witness left.

This was why travelling was exceedingly dangerous and ridiculously expensive. The further the location, the more costs incurred for extra protections required, which meant there were more guards to hire, and with more guards, extra provisions were also needed, and with more people travelling, the progress was necessarily slowed, with meant longer period of travel and even higher costs.

So, in short, travelling was most often restricted to those who had means to do so in safety and comfort, those who did so for a living, or those who had no choice. Sakura was glad that this time, she belonged in the first group.

The first week on the road went smoothly. This section of the road had always been quiet with only endless rows of trees and occasional still empty rice fields, and on the rarer occasion, there would be a settlement that promised a good night sleep at the inn on an actual bed rather than out in the open or cramped in the carriage. The other travelers on the road were very sparse, especially those who came in the opposite direction, as most merchants and caravans were just starting to head into bigger cities and the Capital itself. There were still far from the Capital, regardless, and traffic in this area was not expected.

This was why it came across as a surprise when they learned that there were other occupants in the inn they were staying in a remote little town when the wheel in their carriage was broken.

"Don't worry, milord." The innkeeper told the sage when he saw his surprise. "I have room enough left for ya. They only took two rooms between themselves, and they're quiet enough. There'll be no disturbing yer lordship at night or the sort."

Yasuhiro smiled at the outlandish speech and told him he was grateful. That had the simple man grinning ear to ear, glad that, for once, he wasn't snubbed or made fun of by his betters. Just as he was about to lead them away to their assigned room, the captain of their travelling guards came in.

"It will take two days for the town smith to fix our broken axle, sir. We'll have to stay here for tonight and tomorrow night."

Tenten's brows furrowed at that. "It shouldn't take that long to fix just a simple axle. I understand why we're staying here tonight, since it's already late afternoon, but why tomorrow night?"

The guard captain shook his head sadly. "The bloody smith is away, and he won't be back until tomorrow noon. On one of his fishing trips, no doubt, the good-for-nothing…"

Then he noticed an amused stare from the old sage. "Uhh, begging your pardon, sir. I'll go see to the men." And with that, he left them alone.

Tenten sighed irately. "We're losing time. If I can just get into the smith's place I can just fix the axle myself!"

"Now, now, no need to be in a big rush, dear girl." He said, his tone placating. "We can take this opportunity to rest here for a spell. My weary old bones can't take much travelling these days."

"Liar!" Sakura and Tenten yelled at him in unison at the indignant man. "You just want to smoke your pipe!"

As the old sage pretended to be angry at them and stormed off to not-so-secretly find a nice spot to smoke his pipe, the girls decided to take a walk before the sun set. As expected, the walk was refreshing, especially in comparison to the cramped carriage they were forced to endure, and the scenery of endless field of tall green grass tinged with the golden speck of the sun and the artlessly aligned rows of cedars had a quiet, serene beauty that could not be afforded elsewhere. Out of her old habit, Sakura picked up a few stray herbs and flowers with medicinal properties that she recognized and kept them in the medical pack she always had with her. Her supplies was still sufficient, for she had no cause to use it yet, but she took some anyway just to be on the safe side. Or maybe she could use them to make something that could help with the sage's snoring. Tenten and the caravan guards would be forever in her debt.

"I wonder what it will be like in the Capital." Tenten wondered aloud as she picked up a small, white flower to play with. "I have read about it so many times, yet I can never imagine it. The books tell you about the places, but I can never see it in my mind."

"Me, neither." Sakura answered honestly. Even in a life far past, she had not had the opportunity to go to the Capital yet, either. She was sent on missions to places far and wide, yet, by some chance, she never had the opportunity to go to the Capital. Even Ino went there with her team, and she had a wonderful time gloating about it over a green-eyed little monster with pink hair about how grand the place was and how much fun she had.

"I want to go to the Royal Library. The old sage said they had ten thousands of books there." Said Tenten dreamily. "I'm gonna spend the whole day there, and nobody is gonna tell me I can't anymore."

Sakura casted a furtive glance at her friend. It was not the time to speak to her about her foster father, so Sakura continued along the same vein. "Oh, but I want to go to the Daimyo Palace! I want to see all the pretentious ladies I told you about, remember?"

"Yes! The ones Genma-san told you, right? I'm dying to see if they're as ridiculous as he said!"

They continued to giggle and put their head together on their adventure in the Capital until the sun set. Only then did they hear their grumbling stomach and hurried back towards their lodging. They found the old sage already waiting at the dining table downstairs, quickly hiding the pipe that still had smoke but apparently not in time to escape the girls' judgmental gaze. Then, they started and ended their dinner in a much livelier tone than the few previous days before turning in to their own rooms for the night. As travel-weary as they all were, as soon as their back found the comfort of their shared bed, sleep claimed them almost immediately.

* * *

A loud thud and muffled sounds startled Sakura awake. Even though she had not been a ninja in this life, yet, the instinct from her former training remained intact. She got up and immediately listened for the strange noise. But all around her was quiet. All she could hear was Tenten's regular breathing and the sounds of wind and the rustling cedars.

Just as Sakura was about to blame her imagination for playing a trick on her mind and go back to sleep, she heard it again. This time loud and clear.

It came from the room beside them, the room of the other mysterious guests the innkeeper told them.

Then, a faint but all-too-familiar smell hit her. The copper, tangy scent of blood…

Slowly, Sakura tiptoed from her bed, making as little noise as possible, and made the way to her door. The hallway of the inn was dark and quiet, and while she was no sensor-nin, she could sense no other unknown presence nearby.

Except in the room next door, of course.

As quietly as she could, she listened at the door where the sound came from. Now that she knew there was someone inside, she thought she could hear a series of muffled labored breathing. It became shallower with each breath. Coupled with the smell of fresh blood, it was apparent that the 'someone' in there was suffering an injury, possibly a serious one.

Sakura hesitated, conflicted on what to do next. The ninja in her said it was better to wait and watch, to pretend she had seen and heard nothing. This way, if there were more pursuers with murderous intent after this person, she would not get caught in between. On the other hand, the medic in her called out to her that she could save this person. This could be an innocent victim of injustice-filled world and this could be another life wasted to no good purpose. She could heal him and leave before anyone was the wiser and no one would suspect her of any involvement anyhow.

In the end, the medic side won and before she could change her mind, Sakura gently pushed the door opened. The smell of blood became stronger now as well as the sound of increasingly labored breathing. The moonlight dimly illuminated the room and she saw a figure of a boy, crouching at the foot of the bed, clutching desperately to his wounds. He was dressed in all black and wore a mask, and nothing else was immediately visible.

On her barefoot, she treaded her way slowly next to the crouching figure at the foot of the bed. She avoided the trail of blood next to him and sat down. As she reached out to turn him over, she felt her vision spin three-hundred sixty degree as the injured boy suddenly wrestled out of her intended grasp and pinned her beneath him. In the darkened room, she felt momentarily blinded by the glare of bright moonlight and felt, rather than heard, a surprised gasp from her assailant before he collapsed on top of her.

Her heart sank deep as she wriggled out from under the unconscious figure on top of her. She felt a sharp chill down her spine as she turned him over and saw his revealed face as she tore the mask off.

"Naruto!"

That endearing whiskered face could not belong to anyone but him. His young boyish face was exactly as she remembered, even though it was such long time ago since she had last seen it, and although she could not see the color of his eyes in the darkness, she knew it would be the same sky blue that she saw every time she thought of Konoha. However, the constantly happy grin that was always plastered to it was replaced by the expression of pain and was littered with marks of injury.

Time passed slowly then as she instinctively put her hand over his wounds and poured her healing chakra into his body. Sweats formed on her hairlines and her hands as she assessed the injuries he had and closed his wounds simultaneously. He lost a lot of blood, but she breathed easier as she saw that his vitals narrowly escaped the injuries and poured even more chakra into his wounds.

She became so focused on her healing that she only noticed another presence in the room when she felt a touch of cold blade upon her neck.

"So, the brat brought a healer with him, eh?" The callous voice rose from behind Sakura, as she continued to heal him, pointedly ignoring the cold pressure on her neck. "Unexpected. I didn't know Uzumaki Clan had enough healer to actually send one out here."

Silence reigned over as Sakura inwardly cursed herself for being so careless and furiously accelerated her healing, her mystical palm technique glowed brighter in the dimly lit room. Naruto remained unconscious and unmoving as the enemy took a step closer. Sakura winced as the blade gently glided over her neck and broke her delicate skin, drawing a trickle of blood from where it touched.

"Step aside, little girl, and I'll make sure you die painlessly." Her attacker smirked, fooled into complacency by the appearance of her belying fragility. "Well, more like not too painfully."

She didn't even flinch even as the blade dug deeper and more blood seeped through. The smug smile on the man's face started to disappear as he saw the glowing green light continually expanded itself, signaling her willful defiance of his threats. Well, if he thought that a lowlife ninja such as himself could actually kill her, he was welcome to try, and she would show him exactly what she was made of. But she would not spare any unnecessary minutes, nor even seconds, from healing her Naruto until she was forced to.

"Very well, then." He glowered menacingly. "You'll die along with the brat!"

Just as Sakura was about to push the blade off her neck and deliver a roundhouse kick before pulverizing him, another masked man flickered behind her attacker and snapped his neck in one fluid motion, killing the predator-turned-prey before he even realized he was outmaneuvered. The blade he was holding dropped uselessly onto the floor with clang that reverberated throughout the silent room.

Sakura didn't hesitate. She turned back to healing Naruto, unwilling to lose valuable time, leaving the masked newcomer to stare at her cautiously as he deliberately kicked the corpse of Naruto's assassin aside. He hesitated a little as he saw her healing the blonde, but finally drew his own blade from its scabbard and slowly advanced towards her, with his searching gaze watching her intently from underneath his mask.

"Step aside," he spoke at long last. "Step away from the boy, now."

Sakura recognized that voice immediately. _Yamato Taichou_…

She still remained exactly where she was. Just a little more and his wounds would be properly closed…

"I will count to three, miss. Then I will not repeat myself."

Sakura's hands shook, but not from the threats. She was torn by the joy at finding both Naruto and Yamato at the same time, the anxiousness of their predicament and the wistfulness at the cold aloofness which showed that Yamato had already forgotten. For if he did not, he would know at once that nothing in the world could make her leave Naruto when he was in such a state.

"One."

Sakura's mind searched frantically for the things she wanted to say to him, but returned blank. There was supposedly nothing that could be said yet so many things that she wanted to say. _What could she possibly say?_

"Two."

She needed to say something… anything…

"Three."

As the blade came down towards her, she lunged at Yamato and knocked it out of his hands. With her trademark monstrous strength, she pushed him down and drew his face to hers by the collar.

"Just let me heal him." She spoke through the tears now cascading from her face. "Please."

Long moment passed before she let go of him and turned back to Naruto, leaving her back completely exposed to the man who now slumped against the wall. He sat up, but otherwise made no move to get his weapon as he watched the glowing green light steadily closing the wounds of his charge.

Still he said nothing as the healing light ceased after an interminably long time, and then suddenly the callous hand of the boy he was supposed to be unconscious reached out towards the girl's.

"…Sakura-chan," Naruto rasped out, his voice was hoarse and dry from momentary disuse. "Am I dreaming?"

"Shh… Naruto," the girl whispered back softly, trying to hold her tears in check as she used her free hand to caress his cheeks. "You need to rest."

"I am dreaming again." He sounded so disappointed that Sakura's heart ached. "But this is not Konoha… why?"

Sakura sobbed out unrestrainedly this time. _So he remembers…_

"Don't cry, Sakura-chan…" His voice lulled as he drifted towards the unconscious world again. "If this is a dream, I don't want to see you cry anymore…"

Yamato knew he should be surprised when he saw the girl buried herself into Naruto's chest as she cried her heart out, all the while with her hand entwined with his. But he couldn't feel that. Somehow, this felt inexplicably right. Tried as he might, he could not pull himself up from where he was sitting and tore this mysterious girl, who could be an enemy from all he knew, away as she continued to weep so heartbreakingly on the now sleeping boy he meant to protect. So, he did the only thing he could. He let her hold onto the boy and cried her heart out.

Eventually, the sobbing died down. Dawn would soon come, and he needed to get Naruto to safety as soon as he could. He went over to the girl who was by now just holding Naruto to her and said softly.

"We need to be off now."

Sakura flinched, her hold on Naruto tightened protectively. But, in the end, she gave a stiff nod and let of him. She gingerly caressed his blood-stained face before reaching both hands to unclasp something from her neck.

It was a cherry blossom necklace.

She gently secured it around Naruto's neck before she hesitantly stood out of the way. Without a single word, Yamato lifted Naruto up onto his back, ready to depart.

"I… Can you please…" Sakura started to speak. She wanted to tell him so many things, to ask him where he was going among countless other questions in her mind.

"Please don't say anything more, miss." Yamato spoke curtly, finally regaining some of his original intimidating composure. "I've let you healed him as you asked, and broke many rules of secrecy tonight. Should word get out that I let this happen, my life will not be enough for the punishment from the clan that would surely follow."

And with that, the two of them flickered out of sight without a trace.

* * *

The rest of the journey to the Capital became nothing more than a blur to Sakura. She took in no sight nor sound as her mind replayed the event of that night over and over again. As the rolling carriage drove on and on, she saw Naruto and Yamato again and again in her mind. She was in a turmoil for both of them. She had healed Naruto, but what if his wounds became reopened? Or infected? Would their pursuers catch up with them? Would Yamato be punished for this? What were they doing?

All these questions, and she had answer for none of them.

She was quiet for most of the trip and put the blame on motion-sickness when the old sage and Tenten worriedly asked her what was wrong. The old sage made a few jokes and told her gently to sleep as much as she could while Tenten put more pillow under Sakura's head and made sure she was comfortable enough to sleep. Sakura could not explain how grateful she was for both of them and their presence, for surely she would go insane without either of them by her side.

Weeks and weeks passed as they made their way through the countryside. They stopped occasionally at smaller towns and cities for supplies and rest, and more and more settlements appeared with greater frequency, signaling that they were making progress and that soon they would reach their destination.

Finally, one night, Sakura and Tenten was roused from their sleep by the sage's gentle insistence.

"Wake up, girls." He said exultantly. "We're here."

Both Sakura and Tenten jolted awake. She finally started to feel excitement rising as she opened the carriage window and poked her head out to see the rows and rows of miniature but beautifully lit settlements off in the distance up the gently sloped hill. At the top of it all, at the highest peak, stood a large white castle that was almost shining amidst the darkness. Even at such a distance, the view was simply magnificent.

"Welcome," said the sage with his usual flare to the gaping girls. "To the Fire Capital."

* * *

Sakura had never seen a busier or a more crowded place in her entire life. Konoha in its glory days was considered a large village with a sizable population, but nothing could have prepared her for this. As they made it past the gate, she saw houses that were so cramped together that they were practically sharing the same wall. The noises around them were so deafening that the old sage had to strain his voice to explain that it was a residential district for the working and lower class, who often worked as servants to the rich or plied their trade with each other.

As they made their way deeper into the city, the road became noticeably wider and buildings steadily increased in size. The houses in the inner district became larger and generally had more space, situating apart from each other at a modest distance. She started to see establishments like various shops which were already closed at the time, a few inns with their welcome signs out in the front with a lit lantern and, on a rare occasion, a discreet building with smiling and indiscreetly dressed women huddled together in the front, calling out to mostly male passerby and attempting to draw as many eyes to themselves as possible. Even without the sage averting his eyes from such a place, she knew instinctively what it was. They also made their way past a few shrines dedicated to various gods as well as a bigger temple.

As they progressed even deeper into the city, the housing became even sparser and their surrounding were impeccably clean. There were no longer houses, but rather veritable mansions. Each was properly walled high enough so the house itself could not be seen from the outside, but even then the walls were adorned beautifully, some very opulently so that it was gaudy rather than elegant.

But at last, the carriage finally pulled to a stop in front of a smaller and modestly decorated mansion. The gate was opened immediately as two servants led them inside through the dark garden to the main house. Then, the carriage door was opened and servants were rushing to aid the old sage down. One elder lady who was neatly dressed stood to the side and bowed deeply once the sage stood directly in front of her. The rest of the servants quickly followed suit.

"Welcome back home, Yasuhiro-sama."

* * *

Sakura and Tenten passed the rest of that night and awoke to the new morning in a daze. As soon as they rose from their sleep, two servant girls were already waiting on them. They bowed and greeted them in an almost reverent manner that had both girls flustering and simultaneously told them there was no need to be so formal. This went unheeded and at once the girls were led separately to their bath and it was only at the fierce insistence on Sakura's part that the girl left Sakura to bath in private and waited outside, but returned as soon as Sakura dried herself. She was then dressed in a light green kimono and another girl came in to brush her long, tangled hair with deft and gentle fingers.

After the girls were sure their charge was presentable, Sakura was led through the winding corridors and was joined by Tenten in a red kimono that complimented her skin perfectly. Both were led to a spacious and elegantly decorated room and found that the old sage, or rather, Yasuhiro-sama, was already waiting for them, his breakfast in front of him. Rather than his usual well-made but well-worn robe, he was now dressed impeccably in his deep green kimono with a black obi and a knee-length grey haori. If it hadn't been for the same antiquated pipe in his hand, neither Sakura nor Tenten would have remembered him.

The girls were led to the prepared seats in the place of honored guests and their breakfast were meticulously laid out. Then, the old sage signaled for his servants to leave, and with a military precision, they all bowed and left at once on his command. The girls sat staring at the man in half in awe, half in shock, until he burst out laughing once he was sure his servants were out of earshot.

"The two of you should see your own face! Ah hah!" The old sage laughed until he coughed and wheezed at the same time. "You probably wish you sucked up to me more, huh?"

Tenten stood up and protested immediately. "Like hell we'd ever do that, old geezer! Why didn't you warn us first huh?!" She berated the entertained sage who had just lost all his awe-inspiring aura provided by his posture and change of clothing. And for the first time since she arrived here, Sakura doubled over and laughed just like the sage did.

"It's good to see you more like yourself again, my dear. The journey must have worn you out more than I thought," The old sage gave her a kind smile. "Unlike Tenten here, who has the constitution to endure any change in her surrounding."

"Hey!"

They continued the rest of breakfast in this playful manner. Once they were finished and the trays were taken away, the old sage signaled the servants to leave again and he turned serious this time.

"Now, I would like to discuss your future here."

Sakura and Tenten straightened immediately.

"I know that your wish is to train at the Fire Temple in the art of combat, is that right, Tenten?" She vigorously nodded in confirmation. Then the sage turned to her. "And you, Sakura, what do you wish to do?"

Sakura was silent. Of course, she couldn't tell him she wanted to recreate Konoha and asked him for advice on how to proceed in order to accumulate as much power and influence as she could to achieve such things, even if she sorely needed it.

"I would like to be trained in medical ninjutsu and genjutsu abilities." She gave him a somewhat neutral answer, an expected answer. The old sage nodded. Clearly, he had expected the response along this line.

"As you well know, Tenten, the Fire Temple only accepted male initiates into their ranks." At her sullen expression, he quickly added. "But don't fret, my dear, I know exactly what would be perfect for both of you."

Then, they heard the door slid opened, and a sweet voice rang out.

"Father!" A beautiful woman in her beautifully designed deep blue kimono rushed inside and promptly threw her arms around the old sage affectionately. "I've missed you so!"

"Rin, I'd like you to meet my new charges I've told you about in my letters." The woman finally turned to where to girls were sitting. "Tenten and Sakura, this is my daughter, Rin."

Both girls bowed their heads instantly and chorused a 'please to meet you' in unison. But Rin gave them a bright and easy smile.

"No need to be so formal! My, both of you are so cute!" She went over to the girls, pinching Sakura's cheek in one hand while ruffling Tenten's hair with the other. "Do you like the clothes I prepared for you? They fit even better than I thought! You look amazing in red, Tenten-chan, I have to order more clothing in this colour for you! And such a pretty hair, Sakura-chan!"

A deep-voiced chuckle could then be heard from the opened door. "My, Rin, the way you're rambing on, you're not giving them opportunities to speak at all."

"And that," The sage turned to the newly arrived man. "…is my errant son-in-law, Hatake Kakashi."

* * *

**Author's Note**

Is it just me, or am I rushing the story too much? I have so many things I want to write at once, and pacing the story has never been one of my strong suits. Now that the New Year holidays are over, workload has been crazy and what time I have left had been squeezed into this story, usually a few hours a night. I feel that this chapter lack of bit of polish, but that could either be 1) true, or 2) my own tire mind playing trick on me, or 3) something else?

I'm seriously in need of opinions and constructive criticism here. Help!

Otherwise please send me something sugary ;)


	5. Chapter 4

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 4_

* * *

For the past twenty or so years that he began his sojourn in this new, foreign world, Kakashi thought he was alone in remembering the world as it once was. To say that his life was different from what he knew was a complete understatement. It was more akin to being turned upside down, twice. First, he found that he was no longer in Konoha, and then he found that it didn't even exist, and that the system of life he knew and lived in was gone forever. More than that, he found himself no longer in possession of the sharingan which he was famed for, nor was he sporting the scar on his left eye any longer as he returned to his five year-old body.

Not that it was entirely bad. For one thing, he had his family with him, both his father and mother. Without the existence of the Hidden Leaf, his father had chosen a different path. He came to the Capital with his wife as a strapping young man and offered his service to the military force of the Land of Fire, slowly climbing his ways up through the ranks and protecting the weak living the turbulent world one step at a time. With his skills and prowess, and given some time and various acts of braveries, he caught the eye of the Fire Daimyo and was offered a position of one of the Twelve Ninja Guardian, an elite group of the Daimyo's personal guard that operated outside of any ministry jurisdiction and received direct command only from their lord. He accepted the position readily and proudly, believing it to be his life calling, and served with unswerving loyalty. He defended his liege time and again from dangers within and without, earning him both fame and fortune far beyond what he achieved previously in his life as a shinobi.

This was how Kakashi found himself living the life of wealth and privilege within the inner circle of the nobles of Fire Capital. His mother, living in the lap of luxury and comfort provided by her husband, had lived on for more than ten years after her original time of death, and Kakashi could not for a single moment regret the opportunity to finally get to know her. She was a loving and a gentle mother, and every moment spent with her had made him more whole than he could ever remember being in his entire life. Due to her delicate health, however, she left him and his father three months after he completed his genpuku ceremony when he turned sixteen and, with his father's influence coupled with his own exceptional fighting skills, attained a respectable rank within the Fire military hierarchy. She died peacefully, and was happy in the knowledge that her son had soundly established his own place in the world.

After that, his father crossed path with the older Nohara Yasuhiro, the Chief of the Archivists in the Ministry of the Centre, and friendship bloomed between the two as both of them shared the sorrow of having recently lost their wives. Not long after their initial meeting, both families were introduced to each other, and it was then that he met her once again.

Nohara Rin was the only child of the Nohara Yasuhiro and his late wife, a woman distantly hailed from the Senju Clan who had died from an unexpected illness for which there was no known cure for. They met a year and a half after his mother's death, and he had just been promoted a rank within the Ministry of the Military for his work in dispatching a particularly bothersome group of bandit that had established themselves in the southern part of the Land of Fire. After his return and subsequent promotion, he was finally introduced to her when he accompanied his father to the Nohara Estate.

She was exactly the same girl that he remembered her to be, albeit a few years older than the last time he saw her long ago. In terms of appearance, she became even more beautiful, thanks to the care given to her as the only heir of her father. Personality-wise, she was still gentle, loving, kind, and still she had no eyes for any other but him. It was apparent from the first moment that their eyes met that she had once again fallen for him for some mysterious reasons that he had never been able to fathom. At that time, Kakashi was reluctant to acknowledge her attraction, deeming it to be only an infatuation and suppressed his own feelings, determined to wait for her to become surer of her mind before he did anything. However, being an only child of a powerful noble gave her the playful boldness that she did not display in her former life, and she began to pursue him with energy, fracturing his already fragile defense against her lively charms and wily ways. And at the age of nineteen, she had him in the palm of her hands and became his wife with the blessings of both his and her father.

They shared their felicitous married life together for a year before a son was born to them. His name was a heated and much debated topic between his paternal and maternal grandparents. Of course, it was clear the parents would have no say in the matter. After two months, Rin insisted that they both finally decided, for she was not going to keep calling her son 'baby' or 'child' as they did. Thus, the privileged baby boy was duly named Hatake Kazuhiko to the satisfaction of both self-appointed naming committees.

Kazuhiko was a happy and easy baby, never making much of a fuss, but then again, Kakashi muse, he was one of those babies that never wanted for anything. His two grandparents were completely enamored by him and kept trying to steal Kazuhiko away from his wife much of the time and she had to resort to threats of cutting ties with both of them if they did not cease their 'antics' as she called them. The grandparents became relatively better-behaved after that.

Three years later, they had a child again, and this time it was a baby girl. As soon as Kakashi laid eyes on her, she instantly became the apple of his eyes, his precious princess. She was unequivocally adored by the rest of her family and was named Kazumi. The naming honor belonged to Kakashi this time, much to the disgruntlements of her grandparents and the amusement of Rin.

With his family, Kakashi lived at the height of his happiness. However, he would often think of the people from his old life and wondered how they were doing, especially his own missing team who were with him until he took the very last breath in his bygone life. He periodically and consistently sought the news of all his students, even though he never had the opportunity to actually meet them in person.

Sasuke was the easiest to find information of, for the Uchiha clan was well-known and well-connected. Saved for the Senju clan, they were easily the strongest clan in the Land of Fire, and their networks extended even further. Thus, news of the clan were always repeated far and wide, and since Sasuke himself occupied the prestigious position of being second-in-line to the clan future leadership, his actions and progress were always under public scrutiny. There was no chance of meeting, however, for the clan was highly reclusive and would not sojourn about unless there was a mission or a battle to be joined, and no one was ever granted the permission to visit their stronghold to the west of the Land of Fire. Kakashi attempted to forge a connection to the secretive Uchiha, but it was to no avail. Moreover, Sasuke was still young and had not been considered an adult yet, so the opportunity to wander far from his clan most likely had not presented itself just yet. So, for now, Kakashi determined to be patient and wait for the day he had to eventually come to the Capital, and then nothing would stop Kakashi from meeting his prodigy once again.

Naruto, despite being a member of a powerful and famous clan just like Sasuke, was proven more difficult to track, due to an unexpected treachery. An attack on the Uzumaki clan happened without warning by the collaboration of the cunning Shimura clan and war-loving Kaguya clan. Kakashi suspected that this was spurred on by the former, who fuelled the legendary thirst for battle of the latter, and together they attacked the Uzumaki clan during the night of lightless new moon. While the Shimura and Kaguya clan were strong and ferocious, the Uzumaki clan was equally powerful, if not more so, especially in their home turf. However, with the assistance of an unnamed betrayer within the Uzumaki clan's midst, their stronghold was in the end overwhelmed after a month long siege. The hell-bent Kaguya rained death and destruction upon all within their sights, almost annihilated the Uzumaki clan in the process, but not without a cost to themselves. The treacherous Shimura clan, who promised them undying support at the beginning of their alliance, let their supposed allies charged ahead alone to face the Uzumaki's wrath and resistance, resulting in a complete destruction of the bloodthirsty Kaguya clan as well, leaving the Shimura the only one left standing to reap the reward of their maliciously planned conquest.

The Uzumaki survivors scattered to the four winds and disappeared without a trace. In the beginning, the only information that Kakashi could find with certainty was that the Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato were not numbered among those who perished in battle, and later, he was able to find out that they were still actively seeking to regroup with the missing members of the clan to rebuild and hopefully take back their holdings from the Shimura clan's greedy grasp in the future. Kakashi managed to meet up with them once, and pledged to lend them his support when they were ready to take back their stronghold, much to their surprise. However, after determining his intent, his former sensei and his wife gladly accepted his support and promised their friendship in return. However, Kakashi missed seeing Naruto, as he was sent away, with much protesting, by his father to another safe location with Tenzou. After that, the Uzumaki relocated on a regular basis to protect themselves from the Shimura's attack, so the news from them were rare at best and a meeting as of yet impossible.

However, while Kakashi deemed a meeting with Sasuke and Naruto difficult, he chalked a meeting with Sakura to being out-of-this-world impossible. For one thing, she belonged to no great ninja clan nor was she a noble with lineage which he could track her from. And sadly, fishing one particular civilian throughout the mass within the Land of Fire was akin to finding a lost needle sunk in the ocean. Kakashi simply had no idea where to look for her. There was also a possibility that she was not born in the Land of Fire, making the already impossible task even more improbable. Moreover, anything could have happened to her, and his heart clenched at the possibility of all the bad things that could happen to her. She could already be dead, for all he knew.

Cursing his lack of knowledge of his only female student, he began his blind search by establishing contact from major cities to report back as soon as a girl of her description was seen. He even had his contact from the Senju clan discreetly looking for a girl of her description, however, there was no luck from that quarter, and soon it became apparent to him that he would likely never find her, much to his distress. Not that he gave up the search entirely. He had his information-gathering agents kept a lookout for her, discreetly of course, but he never actually expected to find anything.

So, to say that it was a surprise to see her sitting there in his father-in-law's private living room was an utterly inadequate understatement. That out of his three students, she was the first one he actually found, or found him rather, was so incredible and extraordinary that it almost made him believe in fate. It rendered him speechless as his wife rushed in to greet the girls, but he immediately collected himself and made his own entrance after her. Surreptitiously observing her reaction to his presence, he could immediately detect the recognition in her eyes when she saw him.

He wasn't actually listening to what his wife was spouting until she told him that she would be taking the girls with her to make preparations for their new lives here. He nodded uncomprehendingly as she led the two girls by the hand to the awaited shopping trip and he caught Sakura throwing him one last anxious gaze before she disappeared from his view, leaving him alone with his father-in-law.

"Did my daughter just take my charges out shopping without consulting me?" The sage asked, seemingly confused by the sudden whirlwind that came and went quickly. "I'm supposed to be their guardian, darn it!"

Kakashi chuckled. "You would rather arrange things by yourself?"

"Hmm, no." Was the sage's suddenly meek concession.

"How was your pointless meandering around the Land of Fire?" Kakashi teased. Although he never told his wife in exact words, he rather enjoyed riling his father-in-law up and baited him into his mock indignations. It was quite entertaining. "It's been years since you left. Rin was rather afraid that you got lost and couldn't find your way back."

"It was not pointless!" The older man retorted as expected. "And I was not lost! I was revisiting and reliving in my original hometown."

"Your original hometown?"

"I bet you didn't know. I was originally hailed from a small, no-name town from the south before I came to make my fortune here and became a lowly scribe at the Royal Archive. Your father and I are very similar in that regard. Both of us began our career as a nobody making our way among the disdain and ridicule of people here."

"Isn't that a little melodramatic?"

"It's inspiring, I'll have you know!"

A servant interrupted their talk by bringing in refreshments, which Kakashi waved away almost impatiently. He waited until the woman left before he started his interrogation again.

"So, why did you go back?" And before the old sage could interrupted, Kakashi hastily added. "Yes, I know you are already retired and can do whatever you want. I'm just curious as to why you felt the need to return there."

"I wanted to see it one last time." The sage shrugged before replied vaguely. "Getting sentimental in my dotage, I suppose."

"Is that where you find your new charges?"

"Yes. They remind me of how I was when I was a young boy. I was dying to get out of there. I wanted to do something more with my life, and so I left. And it was a difficult journey. Thankfully, it was a worthwhile one."

He paused contemplatively before continuing. "As girls, I know the journey they need to take would be much more difficult than what I faced if they were to do it on their own. They are clearly disadvantaged and much more vulnerable to being… led astray."

Kakashi understood what he meant. In this world, being poor was already a grave disadvantage, and being a poor woman even more so. They were regarded as unequal and were often seen as weak and frail. With this viewpoint and the world in such a state of chaos, there were no shortage of people literally waiting in line to seek to use them in any way for their own betterment without a second thought spared for the victim's wellbeing. Kakashi gritted his teeth. Such thought never sat well with him…

Perceiving the somber look on Kakashi's brow, the sage added in a lighter tone. "Plus, I've always wanted to liven things up around here, now that you've taken my little Rin away."

"You always welcome yourself to our place anyway." Kakashi pointed out. "Before you left, that is."

"Well, I am your father-in-law. You ought to be welcoming me, but since I am magnanimous, I decided to spare you the trouble."

Kakashi rolled his eyes at that. "So, have you actually thought of what to do for the girls?"

"What's the rush? They haven't even been in the Capital for one day." The sage wrinkled his nose at his son-in-law, but seeing his unexpectedly stern expression, he decided it was time to speak with some measure of seriousness, relatively anyway. "Well, if you must know, I am planning to enter them into the Daimyo's court."

At the questioning gaze shot at him, the sage continued. "Not right away, of course. God knows they need a lot of preparations to actually be considered presentable by those pretentious lot, so I'm planning hire private tutors for things like manners and feminine accomplishments for them in the beginning."

Kakashi nodded, silently agreeing with the sage's decision. After all, the only place where women might gain real source of power and influence was there, at the heart of the Land of Fire where the Fire Daimyo pulled his strings and the fate of the nation was decided. Whatever future they envisioned for themselves, they would find the Daimyo's court the best place to start from.

"Of course, apart from all those things, they also wish to be trained in the art of combat as well." Then, his father-in-law gave him a pointed look. "And this is where you come in."

"Me? What on earth could you possibly need me for?" Kakashi feigned ignorance and scratched his masked chin. "What could I possibly do?"

The sage gave a devilish grin. "Of course, _you _are going to train them."

* * *

Despite being ecstatic to be teaching his former student again, Kakashi pretended at first to be reluctant in accepting the charge of the two young girls, saying he wouldn't know what to do with either of them. He let his father-in-law entreat and appeal to him with all his powers of persuasion for a little while, immensely enjoying the theatrics from the old man, before pretending to concede to the request rather reluctantly, and managed to extract a favor from the older man in the progress as well. Then, he took his leave from the Nohara Estate to actually digest all that he had just learnt in the space of a few hours after setting foot here. He was so preoccupied that he actually forgot to take leave from the Nohara Patriarch when he left as good customs dictated.

Then, he waited and waited, counting the hours and the minutes until nightfall.

After midnight, Kakashi came back to the Nohara Estate again, this time on foot. He wanted to make sure it was all real, that his student, Haruno Sakura, someone he almost wrote off as lost forever to him, was finally back. He crept his way through the darkened garden, adroitly avoiding all the eyes of the guards to the room where he sensed Sakura and Tenten's presence.

Somewhat to his surprise, he found Sakura was already sitting outside alone at the porch of her shared quarter with Tenten. It was almost as if she was expecting him. Actually, from her lack of surprise at his appearance, she was almost certainly expecting him.

She was almost exactly the same as he remembered when he first met her. The twelve year-old girl whose long hair was the color of spring cherry blossom and whose eyes were as green as spring leaves. However, what was missing was the shining naivety those eyes once held. Instead, it was replaced by the expression that seemed older, more mature and more wary. It was the same expression that he saw her developed before and during the Fourth Shinobi World War, the expression that had seen pain, death, and loss.

Kakashi decided he didn't like that so well on her. Hers should always be the eyes that held laughter and happiness. Perhaps he was biased because she was the only girl in the group, but he was always reluctant to be as strict or as severe with her as he was with the boys. She was someone whom he wanted to cherish, to protect from all the harm and the ugliness of the world. Long ago, she was the daughter he never had.

Sakura's face was set in determination as she hesitantly stood up and walked over to him. She bit her lips to keep them from quivering and said nothing, but she didn't need to anyway. He understood her question perfectly. Her beseeching gaze told him that she wanted to know if he remembered. With the intensity of her gaze, he was sure that if he didn't remember, she would have somehow woken his memory back with her sheer strength of will alone.

But to him, speaking seemed inadequate. There were so many things he wanted to say, yet no words came, and let's face it, he had never been good with words anyway. None of them were, in his honest opinion.

So, he simply beckoned her closer. Kakashi caught a wandering leaf in the wind between his fingers. Then, kneeling down to her eye level, he gently placed the leaf on her forehead, where the Hidden Leaf symbol of their hitai-ate was supposed to be.

"It's alright." Then, smiling at her trembling lips, he said. "Things can go back to the way they were in the old days again…"

With that, Sakura burst into tears and came into his waiting embrace, and there Kakashi discovered the joy of having a part of his missing family restored to him once more.

* * *

They sat together on the porch in a comfortable silence, each enjoying the presence of the other. For Sakura, having his former sensei back with his memory of the past intact felt like a blessing. While she still had her family and Tenten with her in this life, it was never truly the same with what Team Seven had together in the past. It was in a lot of ways better, sometimes it was worse, but always it was different. Something was always missing from her life, and it was painful to know that it could never be the same again.

But now that she had found Kakashi, she felt a missing part being restored to her once again. She felt an unseen weight being lifted from her shoulder, now that she had someone who remembered and shared the experience of awakening in a strange world where everything was different. She knew he understood her incompleteness of losing what they had in previous lives. She clung tightly to the sleeve of his haori like a lost child, afraid that if she let go, he would disappear in a dream, just like Naruto did.

"My," Kakashi broke the silence between them. "I never expected that you would be the first one to find me."

Sakura looked up, surprise written across her face. "You haven't seen Naruto? Or Sasuke?"

""No, but it seems like you have." Looking at Sakura's expression, Kakashi understood and probed immediately. "When?"

Sakura told him in details of the fateful meeting between Naruto and herself, and confirmed that he did indeed remember the past as he suspected. He was vastly relieved to hear that the blonde was now healed and safe under the capable care of Tenzou. She also mentioned her cryptic message to Sasuke, but told him she had no means to verify whether he had actually received it or not.

In turn, Kakashi spent the rest of the night telling Sakura of his own experience in this new world. He told her about the life she should expected living in the Fire Capital, he told her of his position as one of the most feared commanders of the Land of Fire, and he told her of his life and how he came to be here.

"And you have a family now." Sakura teased happily. "No wonder you're starting to get a little chubby."

Kakashi made a swipe at her head, but Sakura ducked nimbly. "I saw the drawing of your son and daughter here. They are so adorable-"

Out of a sudden, Sakura stopped, noticing his ashen countenance at the mention of his daughter. "Kakashi-sensei, what's wrong?"

"My daughter, she…" he dragged in a deep breath to steady his suddenly cracking voice. "She died a few years ago."

"I… I'm so sorry…" The words came out as whispers that echoed loudly in the night, followed by deadened silence.

"She was so young, barely two." Kakashi murmured softly. "The doctors said it was some sort of infection, but they couldn't identify it and didn't know how to cure it."

Sakura bit her lips painfully. In this world, medical advancement had unfortunately regressed backward. There were several factors contributing to this.

Most people did not know it, but medical advancement needed a few factors to progress. For one thing, it needed specialized personnel, and for such personnel to become truly adept in medical field, it required years of exclusive study and dedicated training, not to mention that medical ninjutsu itself were also divided into endless specialized category. This meant that most medical ninja aspirants were often required to forsake the development of skills in other areas and become solely focused on the art of healing in order to become a true proficient. Then, by gathering these specialists from each area of expertise, knowledge could be shared collectively, and medical advances would then followed.

This was part of the reason why medical knowledge progressed most rapidly in Konoha than other villages, since it was the only village that could, and would, provide the safety and funding required to sponsor the training these needed personnel and compiling the medical knowledge.

But in the world such as this one, these factors were lacking. The dog-eats-dog situation of this world meant that each ninja was better off studying the arts of combat in order to increase their independent chance of survival instead of becoming a medical ninja. And thanks to constant warfare, there were no such sanctuary for collective knowledge since each major power competed for the even scarcer medical ninja to join their own clan. Without true collaboration, the sharing of knowledge was thereby prevented.

Thus, this had severely hindered the progress of medical advancement to the point that people could still die of illnesses that were once considered trivial or from injuries that could have been easily healed if there were more medical ninja available. And of course, this eventually boiled down to the fact that this led to a much, much higher mortality rate, especially for infants.

The dark shadow clouded Kakashi's face in darkness, but it could not hide the ache emanating from the said man as he continued to speak.

"Today, I just keep wondering if things would have been different if you'd turn up earlier. The medical ninjutsu of our world was so much more advanced. Maybe she could have been saved." Then, turning to Sakura, he gave her the saddest smile she had ever seen, his voice the barest whisper. "I just… I wish I could have saved her, somehow."

Sakura was at a loss for words. Nothing she could say would help, and she doubted he wanted to hear empty consolations. So she waited, and soon enough, the silence was broken once again.

"But I'm not going to just sit here and mope." He said finally, determination slowly seeped back into his voice. "I'm going to create a better world in her memory. I won't let her death be in vain."

Then, he turned to her with a meaningful look in his eyes.

"Team Seven will restore the world to peace once again."

With a grim smile, and a lighter heart and fiercer determination than ever, Sakura placed her hands on her sensei's shoulder. "We definitely will."

Silently, Sakura swore to herself as she saw the dawn approaching. _That is my promise of a lifetime._

* * *

**Author's Note**

Thank you for all your comments from the previous chapter! You're all amazing! I will definitely try to use your comments to improve on my future writing.

Also, any comment you have for this chapter is also more than welcomed. I appreciate every comment more than you can know.

About this new chapter, it's a bit shorter than the last time (it's still 8 pages word doc in calibri 11 with 1.08 spacing), but I didn't want to wait too long to post a new chapter, since I know how impatient it feels to be waiting for a story. But if you feel that longer chapter is better, feel free to comment and I will do my best to cater to your wish ;)

Now, a serious question that I swore have no impact on the story.

_ShikaTema_ or _ShikaIno_?


	6. Chapter 5

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 5_

* * *

Last night, Mebuki dreamt of Sakura, but not as the little girl she remembered holding in her arms. In her dream, her little girl had grown into a beautiful young maiden with her sparkling emerald eyes and silky rose-colored hair. Her skin was radiant in its paleness and it was further accentuated by the exquisite white furisode she was wearing. It took a moment for Mebuki to recognize that the fabric of the kimono was her own work, the one she sold to Hayate-san some time ago. She would recognized her signature embroidered silver crane from anywhere.

And, for a fleeting moment, Mebuki dreamt that her daughter was back here with her and her husband once again. Joy filled her heart and they all walked around the village together happily, pointing out places of memory and acquainting her with new places of interest.

As they went through the flower field and neared the river where Sakura used to frequent, Mebuki felt a foreboding, but as she tried to call out to her daughter not to wander too near the water, it was already too late.

A terrifying sight appeared before them all. An eight-headed gigantic serpentine creature rose from river. Its form was as long and as wide as the river itself, and its slippery scales were covered in moss. She found herself frozen to the spot and could only watch as her daughter dodged an attack from each head of the river serpent.

One, two, three times Sakura dodged the water serpent gracefully, her movements were smooth and fluid. Every time she managed to evade, each head that attacked her disappeared. However, as the monster grew livid, its attack also grew in ferocity and viciousness. Three more times her daughter dodged the increasing swift speed of each head with visibly more effort. As each head crashed into the ground, a cloud of dust was stirred up and her daughter was hidden from her sight. Mebuki cried out desperately, but as the dust cleared, she could see that her daughter was still standing tall, and unharmed, much to her relief.

Mebuki's heart lifted as Sakura saw her and smiled and ran to her, but it quickly sank again as the eighth head of the fearsome serpent emerged from the dust cloud right behind her daughter. She screamed for her daughter to watch out, but at the exact moment, Sakura was startled by her outcry and stumbled, precariously dropping to the ground as the monstrous creature rushed towards her.

Only before she hit the ground was she caught by a dark-haired stranger in a dark blue kimono with silver lightning on the sleeve. Then everything seemed to slow, including the approaching serpent. Time seemingly poised to stop, and then the man turned to her.

His eyes were burning crimson.

He regarded her with his placid yet frightening gaze, and then spoke directly to her.

"Give her to me."

Mebuki vigorously shook her head and her voice came creaking out. "No, she is mine…"

"Give her to me, and I shall save her." The stranger's eyes burned even brighter and time seemed to slow even more. Then, in an imperious voice, he commanded. "I will not ask again."

With torn heart and tears in her eyes, Mebuki finally gave a slight nod of assent. Better that her daughter be saved than killed, she thought. Better that her daughter was saved by such a man than be senselessly devoured by the loathsome creature.

Then, she saw Sakura finally looked up at her rescuer, and saw him looking back with his blood red eyes. The sight transfixed her. There was something almost mesmerizing in his gaze that chilled her to the core, yet, for her daughter, the chilling stare seemed to burn her.

"You are mine." His whisper, directed at her precious daughter, rang clearly and rose above everything else in the chaotic scene before them.

At once, time began to flow once again as the red-eyed man lifted her daughter up with his one arm. His other hand already drew out a shining blade and his crimson eyes spun in a frenzy as he looked directly at the serpent. Then, black flames ignited out of nowhere upon the serpent's last head and began to consume its whole form, sending it into writhing agony with a tortured screech.

Then, a flash of blinding light went off, and Mebuki could see no more.

* * *

It was a misty morning for their small little town and sunlight could bare penetrate through the thick fog that descended upon the place, adding an ethereal yet rustic kind of beauty to it. Although the sky was dark and gloomy, the villagers were up and about a long while ago as per their normal routine. After the draught of the two years before, this year's harvest turned out to be plentiful as the water level rose back, and the villagers became doubly active to make up for the lost time.

However, Mebuki came down to open the shop later than usual today, for she had a fitful sleep last night when she dreamt of her daughter. Even now, she was still thinking of it.

She knew it was quite foolish to let some strange dream bother her beyond sleep. She had had strange, nightmares that made no sense before, but this one was different somehow. She could not quite shake off the feeling that somehow, she had seen the dark stranger she saw in her dream before. It was illogical, for she knew she had not. Yet, he seemed strangely familiar. So familiar that she could almost put a name to his face, almost.

But being the practical woman that she was, Mebuki shook herself from her reverie. She must have missed her daughter even more than she realized, Mebuki thought to herself. After all, it had been three years since Sakura went to the Fire Capital with Tenten and Nohara-san, and even though she wrote to her family regularly, their home had been so lonesome for both Kizashi and herself.

But she brightened up at the thought that next week, she and her husband would be on their way to the Capital to join their daughter in her mogi or coming-of-age ceremony. She and Kizashi had been preparing the most exquisite fabric for her daughter's first furisode as a gift, and neither could hardly wait to see Sakura's reaction once she saw it.

Mebuki was so lost in thought that she didn't realize someone was approaching her.

"Excuse me, madam."

An uncertain yet polite voice roused Mebuki from her musings, and she turned to see a very tall large man standing right next to her. She gave a little start and jumped a little as the man towered over her, yet felt a little sheepish once she saw his gentle expression was briefly filled with sadness at such a reaction.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." The large man said in a gentle voice, to which Mebuki replied.

"No, no, it's my fault! I was thinking of this and that, so I didn't see you coming." She waved his apology away good-naturedly. "How can I help you today, mister?"

"Please, call me Juugo." The bright-haired man smiled softly and asked. "Is this the Haruno's shop?"

* * *

Without the creation of Konoha, the Uchiha clan retreated back to their stronghold in the west of the Land of Fire after Madara's death. With Izuna's unexpected leadership and his numerous attempts to eradicate the Senju, the Uchiha number had thinned considerably. Once, they were a mighty army of many able-bodies, but now, by the time Izuna was dead and a new leader rose to take his place, there were only enough of them to keep a skeletal army. They were barely able to survive onslaught from old and new enemies alike.

Thus, the order of a new leader to retreat and recuperate was met with great relief. As mighty and ferocious as the Uchiha warriors were, they were still human. They bled and hurt too much, and knew that if they persisted into foolishly attacking the Senju, they would end up dead first.

So it was that with a new leadership, Uchiha clan retreated to their stronghold. For a time, they ceased all non-mission relevant attacks and slowly rebuild their numbers within their reclusive fortress. They ignored the malicious gossip, which said that the Uchiha clan had lost for good and would never return to their glory days of the past again. Instead, they quietly waited and spent the time they had focusing on training and educating the younger generation.

Slowly but surely, their skeletal army grew in numbers, and with the new leader's emphasis on cultivating the new generation, the proportion of highly skilled and competent shinobi went up also. Normally, for an average army, the number of crudely skilled shinobi to an actual warrior was approximately ten to one. But for the Uchiha army, the number was reduced to five to one, meaning that their army would be much more effective against the enemy of the same size.

With time, a measure of cautious strategic planning and a great deal of patience, the Uchiha army was restored to its former glory. Their numbers flourished and their morale was steadily increasing with a near perfect success rate of their missions.

However, by this time, decades had passed and the continuation of the feud between themselves and the Senju was no longer forefront in the mind of the clan members. They were by no means friendly, of course, but the intense hatred had long since dissipated to a certain degree, and their focus were steered away from vengeance with the level-headed leadership.

So, instead of renewing their attacks on the Senju clan, they instead leveraged on their regained fame to amass more wealth and used it to expand their influence in the Land of Fire. Apart from expanding their main stronghold, they also sent out their own to create a network of smaller bases throughout the country and swiftly established an information network that was second to none. A great portion of their accumulated wealth was also continually invested in more training, thereby making certain that there was a steady supply of new recruits to replace the older ones when the time came for them to step down.

Fast forward a few more decades to the time when Uchiha Fugaku rose to leadership, the clan was tremendously powerful and incredibly wealthy that no one dared going against them. Their stronghold, once considered only a fortress, now transformed into a veritable fortified city with its own agriculture and, one could say, its own economy. It left other clans looking on with either an inspired awe or piercing jealousy. This arrangement made the Uchiha self-sufficient, and very defensible, for if their enemy ever decided to attack and invade their stronghold, they would be able to withstand the siege for more than a year.

Fortunately for the Uchiha clan, Fugaku was a level-headed leader. He governed them with a firm but reasonable hand, and followed the path of his predecessors of encouraging the clan's growth and accruing even more wealth. While the casualty rate remained necessarily high, there was now constant supply of new warriors to replace the lost ones. And they were able to live in relative safety and happiness.

And today, Uchiha Mikoto, the matriarch of the Uchiha clan could not be happier. For today was the day when her youngest son finally went through his genpuku and became a full-fledged shinobi.

She had waited for this day for three years, ever since Sasuke turned thirteen. It was planned at the time that Sasuke would go through his genpuku earlier than usual due to the early development of his Mangekyo Sharingan. However, it was not meant to be at the time, she supposed. With the unexpected and simultaneous attacks on their several bases from the various ninja clans, the Uchiha forces had sent out on an emergency defensive measure and had been stretched thin these past three years in maintaining controls over their different holdings. Sasuke's coming-of-age ceremony had therefore been postponed that year.

With his renowned talent, Sasuke was in much demand for many battles even though he had not reached the status of an adult or a fully acknowledged shinobi yet. During these times he had managed to earn himself even more honor by shrewdly outmaneuvered the enemy and countered their attack at every turn. Granted, the enemies were smaller clans on the side of insignificance, but somehow, they managed to band together and acquired better armors and weapons for their 'army' and became significant enough to pose threat to the Uchiha's defense. Nevertheless, Sasuke had taught them the lesson they would not soon forget.

Not in generations.

Thus, today was not only a coming-of-age ceremony for Sasuke, but also a celebration for his victories as well. Mikoto had been beside herself for weeks with the preparations of offerings to Susanoo, the Uchiha's patron god, and to the Uchiha ancestors, as well as the banquets they would hold in the evening as well. No expenses were spared, and it was bound to be the greatest celebration the Uchiha clan had seen in years. Even her husband agreed it would be good for morale, considering how hard the past few years had been.

And of course, being the meticulous person that she was, Mikoto did not forget to prepare the first set of adult kimono and hakama that Sasuke would change into after the vigil in the Susanoo Temple. She had her seamstresses finally sewing up the outfit up and coerced Sasuke into coming to the fitting session with them. Mikoto was completely satisfied with the result when she saw Sasuke in his sombre dark blue kimono with silver lightning on the sleeve with the light grey hakama. And despite his earlier grumbling, he seemed to be pleased with his outfit as well, pleased enough that he asked where she got the silk from when he returned the kimono to her after he had finished with the fitting. It was rather strange, for Sasuke never paid any attention to these kind of details, but Mikoto concluded that he must have really liked his new kimono. She herself thought it was marvelously suited to him, and despite the hefty price charged by the merchant Hayate, she thought it was worth every ryo when Sasuke insisted that he kept the kimono in his room.

And now, at the break of dawn, everyone in the Uchiha Household was up and about, tending to their own parts in making today ceremony a success. After making sure that the offerings were ready, Mikoto went over to Sasuke's room to check on him, and there she found that her son was already immaculately dressed.

"You're so handsome today, Sasuke!" She cooed lovingly and went over to her boy who was now a good head taller than her. Unlike other boys who would often protest at such an overly affectionate gesture, Sasuke bore it graciously with one of his more genuine smiles and seemed to truly enjoy it, therefore Mikoto took this as an encouragement and persisted in such a behavior, much to the disapproval of her husband at times.

"You're the handsomest boy on earth!"

"Mother, you said the same thing when I went through my ceremony." Itachi protested as he entered, chuckling at his brother's predicament, for he knew that deep down, Sasuke was being indulgent to the only woman in the family and was still embarrassed by their mother's antics. "Are you already displacing me so soon?"

Itachi was also dressed up formally for the occasion as well. Being the kind and devoted older brother that he was, Mikoto knew he would not miss Sasuke's ceremony for anything in the world. In fact, he had just arrived last night after a hard three-day ride from one of their bases to the South. She also knew Sasuke appreciated the presence of his brother more than he had the ability to express, form the way his eyes lit up once he saw Itachi striding assuredly into his room.

"Oh no, both of you are the handsomest boys on earth!" Mikoto laughed delightedly at her eldest, and drew both her sons into her arms. "Oh, I am so happy!"

"Where is Juugo today?" The Uchiha Heir looked around when he could not locate Sasuke's constant companion, the strange addition to the clan and their family from childhood whom his father rescued a long time ago. "I know he would not miss today for anything."

"He's on an errand." Sasuke answered quickly. "But he will be back by tonight."

Itachi seemed surprised at this, but Mikoto accepted her son's words and promptly ushered him out of the room. "Quick, don't dally! Or we will miss the auspicious time!"

"You are the one who was dallying, mother." Itachi promptly answered and earned himself a smack in the face by his younger brother on behalf of their mother.

* * *

When a young boy was deemed capable of fighting his own battle and taking care of himself, he would go through the genpuku ceremony and would finally be acknowledged as an adult with full responsibilities afterward. The boy would be taken to the shrine of his family's, or his chosen, patron god by his father or the head of his family. There, the priest would take a lock of his hair as a mandatory offering to the god, and the boy would light the incense as an offering to his god and received blessing from the priest. Afterward, he would change into his adult clothes and received his formal sword from the head of his family, and thus became recognized as an adult, now able to own properties on his own and marry, if he so wished.

As with many others who had gone through the ceremony, Sasuke walked with his father to the Susanoo Shrine in the center of their little city, the rest of the family following discreetly behind. The walk was carried out solemnly and was necessarily slow in order to maintain the dignified air required for such an occasion. They silently reached the shrine, and the rest of the family waited outside as father and son entered the solemn complex together.

The priest was already waiting, and with a firm nod from the Uchiha Patriarch, the ritual began promptly. Having been told of the required steps of the ceremony, and in Fugaku's case having been through his own and itachi's, everything went smoothly. After the customary speech of asking the god to accept his son into his keeping, he was led to wait in another room as the priest continued to perform the ceremony for his son.

Uchiha Fugaku had never considered himself an affectionate father, but he loved his family very much. He supposed it was a family trait of an Uchiha, the inability to express their emotions. However, he compensated for the lack of affectionate gestures with his actions. Whatever he did for them, he would always do his best. Whatever he gave to them, he would always give the best, and this occasion required the very best.

He looked at the lacquered box that contained the sword he would bestow upon his son in mere moments and remembered doing the same thing when he went through Itachi's ceremony. He remembered how proud he felt back then, just as proud as he was feeling at this very moment. As he fingered the lacquered box, imagining the expression of silent appreciation and satisfaction on Sasuke's face once he received the sword that he had commissioned the best smith in the Land of Fire to craft three years ago.

Soon enough, he heard the priest finishing up his prayers to Susanoo and Sasuke was led into another room to change into his first adult kimono. Taking the sheathed sword from its container, Fugaku stood up and waited.

A few moments later, Sasuke emerged in his new clothes and knelt before him reverently as custom dictated. Fugaku drew a deep breath, and recited the words that had been passed down to him from his father.

"From now on, you are a man. But more than that, you are an Uchiha. Hold your head high, and be worthy of the name. Uphold our name and honor it with your deeds. Struggle as all those before you did, and you will prosper as they do."

Then, with both hands, he held out the sword to his son. And as Sasuke lifted his hands to accept it, Fugaku whispered…

"I'm proud of you, son."

And he fancied he saw a strange glisten in Sasuke's dark eyes.

* * *

For the rest of the day, the Uchiha clan members embroiled themselves in the long-awaited celebration after the grueling struggles of the past three years. A festival was held in the town square and merchant caravans were allowed inside for the day to sell their wares and otherwise bring entertainment to this somber fortified city. Both the young and the old were visibly excited, as this was hardly ever permitted, and the normally disciplined children were allowed to run wild for the day as well.

There was also a banquet held at the Uchiha Manor as well, and everyone was free to partake of the food there, so the estate ground was full of people, some happily eating and drinking their fill while others conversed of the expected greatness and honor the two Uchiha sons would bring to the clan.

Yet, the person who was the reason for celebrating was not among them. He was not to be found at the estate, where throngs of people were waiting to congratulate him, nor was he enjoying himself at the festival with the younger generations who had not seen such colorful entertainment for years.

Instead, outside of the fortified wall of the Uchiha Fortress, Sasuke found himself sitting with Itachi on a sturdy branch among the oldest and tallest cedars. While he kept his eyes southward, constantly watching in the direction, Itachi was watching him closely.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating inside?" Itachi asked in a brotherly tone. "You are the reason for this celebration, after all."

Sasuke kept his gaze stubbornly on whatever he was staring at and shook his head in reply. Apparently, he was in no mood for talking, which was not strange. Sasuke was always silent and secretive, even with his own family. The only thing that he was opened about was the love and loyalty he had for them. With everyone and everything else, however, he would barely spare them a second glance, if there was a first to begin with.

Despite being closest to Sasuke than anyone else in the family, sometimes Sasuke remained a mystery even to the highly perceptive and intuitive mind of Itachi. While he knew Sasuke was happy and content, at times, Itachi fancied he saw a lost look in Sasuke's eyes, a look so forlorn that it should only belong to a person who had experienced an unforgettable pain that could not be healed. And while he also knew that Sasuke was a kind person at heart, sometimes the things that he would do for the sake of their family and their clan would chill Itachi to the marrow. Cruel things, like interrogating a barely adolescent ninja for information, merciless things, like burning an innocent village to cut the supply line of the enemy, these things Sasuke had done would do again without batting an eye if it meant it was the best for the Uchiha.

Itachi loved his younger brother unconditionally, but sometimes, his actions left Itachi wondering how his adorable baby brother that used to follow him around all day just to play with him could have turned into such an unfathomable being. It stopped abruptly at one point, Sasuke's precious naiveté and innocence. He couldn't remember for certain when, but he remembered coming back from a trip with his father to find his little brother a changed person altogether. He remembered how the little boy threw himself at him and held him in a frighteningly strong grip and howled his heart out. He tried asking their mother and Sasuke's nanny what happened, but there was simply no answer to found.

Yet, from that day on, Sasuke never smiled as widely as he did. He no longer laughed or played like a little boy was supposed to do. Instead, he began to study hard with his tutors and train with vengenance in taijutsu and ninjutsu with his masters or on his own. He became very protective of Itachi and their mother for seemingly no reason.

Itachi sighed and took a seat next to his brother. There, he slumped his back against the tree trunk and stared up the clear blue sky with a tired gaze. Honestly, he had felt so tired ever since his return from the battle in their northern holding. Hopefully, with a few days' rest, he would regain his strength and would be able to return to his duties.

As his thoughts wandered, Itachi's eyes began to droop, and just when he was about to doze off, Sasuke's voice pulled him back.

"Why aren't you inside, brother?" Sasuke asked after seeing that his older brother wasn't leaving soon. "Something bothering you?"

Itachi smirked at the worry laced in Sasuke's tone. Honestly, sometimes his younger brother acted almost motherly. This must have been their mother's influence, and he was glad for it.

"I'm just here to avoid the introductions to all the girls of marriageable age." He said nonchalantly. "Those old senior clan members are becoming a nuisance about this, and I would rather avoid them all for as long as possible."

Just as with Sasuke's genpuku, the matter of Itachi's marital affair had also been delayed due to the multiple skirmishes in the past three years. At the time, no one was making any fuss about it, seeing that defending their holdings had been a much more pressing issue, but now that they were enjoying peace once again, the issue of whom Itachi would marry became forefront in the minds of the older members of Uchiha clan once again. And Sasuke could completely sympathize with Itachi's desire to escape such troublesome matters.

As Sasuke leant back against the tree, preparing to doze off as well, the front fold of his kimono parted as the stretched his arms back to cushion his head, and there, hidden underneath his clothes and nestled on his chest, Itachi observed Sasuke was wearing a charm bag around his neck.

Surprised, Itachi's hand snaked out on its own accord in an attempt to take a closer look, but Sasuke caught his hand just in time before he could actually touch it. The younger Uchiha glared at his elder brother, seeming annoyed and… embarrassed? Itachi grinned widely at the slight blush now gracing Sasuke's cheeks.

"Well, Sasuke, what is this you are hiding? A charm bag? From who?" With a wicked grin on his face, Itachi did not lose the opportunity to interrogate his brother. The smile turned devious as Itachi continued.

"Is it from a girl?"

"It's none of your business." Sasuke replied tersely. The slight blush now turned into a deeper shade of red, and Sasuke, who rarely lost his cool, promptly snapped at Itachi, causing him to grin even wider.

"I'm leaving..." Now flustered, Sasuke stood up and bit his words out. Within seconds, he already dashed away quickly before Itachi could tease him even more.

But though Sasuke's movements were fast, Itachi didn't miss the way his fingers caressed the charm bag gently before hiding between the fold of his kimono once again.

* * *

Evening came, and both the presence of Itachi and Sasuke were required at the banquet.

In the brightly lit hall of the Uchiha Manor, all family members and honored guests took their place and the servants brought food and sake in copious amount. Soon enough, the hall was filled with mellow laughter and relaxed conversations simultaneously. Fugaku himself was engaged in talks with many of the senior clan members who were his council, and Mikoto was playing the role of the gracious hostess to perfection.

The same could not be said for either of her sons. Itachi had always been a quiet person, not willing to rattle away just to fill the silence if he had nothing of substance to say, and Sasuke was even more of a recluse than his brother at times, especially in social events like this. Mikoto had made several attempts to rectify this, but was eventually met with failure when both her sons either deflected her effort with their disarming smiles that were reserved for her only or simply vanished.

Luckily for her, they seemed to be alright tonight. She spotted Itachi talked civilly to a few young ladies of his age who ambushed him before he could avoid them. He put on a polite smile that she knew was just a way to extract himself as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Sasuke was conversing with a group of a senior members of the clan, receiving the congratulatory words with his usual quiet and stoic expression that often set him apart from those his own age. Mikoto sometimes worried, but Sasuke did not seem to care over much.

Eventually, the evening came to an end, and around midnight, the last guest left their manor and the family were all by themselves. Mikoto then left to give instructions to staff to put the place back in order, leaving father and sons together in their private quarter.

Usually, when the male of the family sat together, it would almost always be in complete silence. If the three of them were not Uchiha, the silence would have been overwhelming, but since they were, the silence between them was more often than not a companionable one.

However, tonight, Fugaku intended to speak to both his sons.

"I have received words from our outposts in the east." He began, and both Itachi and Sasuke sat up straight immediately. "I was informed that the attacks have finally ceased… permanently. Shisui will be leading the men back in short order."

Itachi breathed a little easier at hearing that his best friend was safe and would be back soon, but Fugaku was not finished.

"However," his brows knitted together as he continued to speak. "I suspected that the true enemy behind these attacks has not been exposed, let alone eliminated."

Both Itachi and Sasuke nodded, having already anticipated this. It was surely no coincidence that many small clans would simultaneously attack the Uchiha at almost the exact same time. Someone was obviously pulling the strings, clearly intent on the destruction of the Uchiha. The question on their mind was who would wish, and _dare_, to do such a thing. While there were many who would do this, not many _could_ do it.

"We need to find out." That was Sasuke's simple response, but the cold anger behind his words was apparent. Fugaku nodded in grim determination, but it was Itachi who surprised them.

"I may have a lead on this." All eyes turned to him at once, and Sasuke pounced for information immediately.

"Who?" Sasuke asked, his voice held a trace of viciousness that promised nothing good for his target. However, Itachi held his hand up.

"Patience, Sasuke." Itachi admonished. In his opinion, the one thing that Sasuke sorely needed to learn was knowing how to wait. Sasuke huffed irately, but settled down as Itachi continued to speak.

"During my trip to the south to take back our bases, I have encountered some strange things." He recalled his journey vividly. "After the enemy forces were defeated, I did some scouting. It turned out that the villages surrounding our bases were infiltrated and overtaken before our base was attacked."

"That isn't new." Fugaku contradicted calmly. "It's a common tactic to overtake the surrounding area a while in advance in order to cut our base off from contacting for outside help."

"Normally, this would be true," Itachi concurred, but obviously still was not done with his speech. "If the villages weren't already infiltrated and overtaken three years ago."

"Three years?" Sasuke repeated disbelievingly. "…why would they-?"

"That is the question, isn't it?" Itachi turned to his father. "The one that I intend to find out. I want to conduct the investigation myself, father. I await only your command."

"Well done, Itachi." Fugaku, who had been silently contemplating the information, praised his eldest. Among the Uchiha, there was none who could match Itachi in perceptiveness and intelligence.

"To add to that," he drew an encrypted note from his sleeve. "I have another lead from my old contact in the Fire Capital."

"Which means," He looked to both his sons meaningfully. "Both of you will have to be away for some time."

* * *

**Author's Note**

If you didn't quite catch the significance of the opening dream sequence, try googling the word "Yamato-no-Orochi" and/or "Kushinada-Hime" ;)

And a long neglected _**disclaimer**_: In this story, and especially this chapter, I made up some customs and traditions based on the research I did on past Japanese culture. So don't take them as being historically accurate, because they're not meant to be.

Oh, and I don't own Naruto. There. That should have been said from the first chapter, but I forgot. Bet everyone already knew that anyway.

Humongous thanks to everybody who reviewed also! I love you guys, you amazing person you.

And can you believe it? 108 followers to my story?! Holy cow!

Who should I send to the Fire Capital? ;) (This is a rhetorical question lol)

See you all next chapter! Looking forward to hear your thoughts as always!


	7. Chapter 6

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 6_

* * *

It was a beautiful morning today. The sky was blue with no dark cloud in sight. It was by now late spring, and the weather had warmed up considerably, yet summer had not yet arrived, so it was not too hot either. The cherry blossom petals began to fall from their branch and danced around in the breeze that flowed gently down the street. For such a beautiful sight, the Fire Capital had been hailed far and wide as 'heaven on earth'.

As Sakura finally tore her gaze from the sight in front of her and continued on her way, she admitted to herself that there was probably a shred of truth in such a prideful statement, in the more developed sector of it at least. The city foundation was well-designed and immaculately built to withstand the elements and other dangers while retaining a graceful yet imposing beauty at the same time. Not to mention that a considerable portion of taxes were spent on the maintenance of this part of the city as well, much to the satisfaction of the rich who lived here. In the upper city, it was truly like living in heaven, just as the rumor said.

However, it was a different story in the lower sectors of the city. As Sakura left the gate that separated the noble district from the other sectors, environment around her began to shift in appearances. The white-washed walls began to gray from dirt and the buildings began to crowded together more and more with a few large houses here and there. The merchant district was thus less beautiful and not as well-kept as the noble district, but it was still home to many of the wealthy merchants and the rest of the well-to-do individuals who were not included in the rank of nobility, so it was still well-kept and clean. While it lacked the gracefulness of the noble district, it had a bustling charm of its own with all the shops and the tea houses. And since most businesses and trades with the outsiders were conducted here, it was also the second-most heavily patrolled part of the city, so it was one of the safest sector in the city.

Nonetheless, this merchant district was not Sakura's destination. She steadily made her way past the busiest part of the city, and soon she approached yet another gate that again separated this part of the city to her destination. But this time, she walked toward the gate, she was stopped by one of the guards.

"Hold, my lady." The young guard politely halted her. "I beg your pardon, but I think you're going into the wrong direction. Beyond this is the gate district."

It was not the first time she was stopped by a well-intention concern, of course. Even though she took care to dress as simply as possible in a plain kimono and hakama without any accessory other than the ribbon tying half her hair back, something in her manner must have told them she did not belong where she was heading. Nonetheless, she simply smiled, thanked him for his warning and continued on to her destination anyway.

The gate district was home to those who could not afford to find one elsewhere. The first time she had seen it was when she accompanied the old sage into the city and toward his home. It was nighttime then, and under the cover of darkness she could not see anything clearly saved for the silhouette of overcrowded housing that almost fell on top of each other and the fleeting shadows of people on the sideway.

In broad daylight, however, no details were hidden and Sakura was shell-shocked to see the sight before her. Poverty had left these people in a state of malnourishment and sickness in mass to an extent that she had never witnessed before. Even though she hailed from a small rural town with no wealth or riches to speak of, the land was lush and plentiful. People were able to live comfortably with fresh produce from the land and river surrounding them if they were hardworking enough. Even though all of their hard works went to pay the taxes demanded by the government, they were able to survive if the land and the weather were kind. However, here, the people had no such source of comfort. In the city, where everything was bought and paid for in currency, they were left to starve and to rot away from untreated illnesses. To add to it all, they lived in an overcrowded house with nowhere else to go. In the sweltering heat of summer, the sickness and infections spread faster than wild fire, and in the freezing cold of winter, they could only endure with the flimsy clothes on their back and hope to outlast the season. With only about half of them lucky enough to be employed with such low wages that were barely enough to put food on the table, thievery and crimes were one of the few things that were abundant in this place. The weak and the helpless were taken advantage of in every possible way until there was nothing left in them but broken soul in an equally broken body.

The government of the Fire Capital did nothing to help either. Neither the soldiers nor the lords cared enough to even see the state of misery they were forced to be in, let alone help. The former were content enough to be paid by the latter, who felt it was easier to turn away from the problem rather than fix it. Even patrols assigned for this place were avoided whenever possible. With such blatant neglect, occasionally seeing a few corpses of those who were sick and starved to death on the street become a sad but common reality for the people forced to live in this hell on earth.

Such an irony that the heaven and hell could reside so closely to each other.

It used to be better, Kakashi had told her the first time he brought her here. It was never this bad, he said. But as the dispute between the Land of Fire and the Land of River escalated out of control, the fighting had grown more intense. So the fund that was normally planned to help the people were diverted away to war effort. What little was left of it took an even further dent with the corruption of the greedy government officials who sought to use the money for their own comfort and gain, uncaring of what fate would befall those who were truly in need of it.

Neither the teacher nor the student would allow this to go on, so they did what they could and help as much as they could within their own means. For Kakashi, he would supply money from his own pockets to buy food and medicine as well as provide education for the poor here, but he himself could not devote much of his time here due to his own duty as a commander in the Fire military. Sakura, on the other hand, with no money but plenty of time, spent the majority of it here helping as many as she could. With her skills as a healer, she had managed to save many lives from the clutch of death while Tenten help teaching these people the skills that would help them find work.

Of course, this did not solve all problems. With every one person she healed there were always ten more waiting outside, and with each one person they helped, ten more was waiting with empty belly and heart. Yet, there would still be more immigrants coming in either to flee from their home that had been torn apart by war, or to make their fortune here, hoping to build a better life not knowing what bitter disappointment awaited them. The vicious cycle continued on and on with no end in sight.

She thought of her own promise of a lifetime to restore the world to peace once again and sighed. At the moment, the statement seemed so far-fetched and she couldn't begin to fathom how it could be brought about. She would never give up on it, but how long would it take, she sometime wondered. And how much more would be lost before that peace could be brought about…

But she shook herself from melancholy again as she finally reached the gate district. Here, she would need to be at her most cheerful self for the sake of the people here. In the place where all hope was lost, she would make sure to bring as much of it as she could. She greeted the gate guard familiarly as they waved their hands back, already used to the sight of her going in and out regularly these past three years with a sack of her medicines slung over her shoulder and a basket of other supplies on her arm. The people also greeted her warmly at her sight and the children ran up excitedly to her.

"Sakura-neechan!" One little boy called out to her happily. "You're here today!"

"Yes I am! Just as I said I would be!" She mussed up his messy head of hair affectionately. "Why are you boys not at school today?"

"Iruka-sensei is sick." One of the older boys told her. "His wife said he caught a bad cold. Will you go to see him now?"

"Of course." She replied automatically, and her feet started walking on its own on the familiar to path toward Iruka's home.

The first time she came along with Kakashi to the gate district, he took her to see Iruka straightaway, knowing that she would be happy to see a familiar face, and he was right. He didn't remember her, just as she expected, but that didn't make her less happy seeing him, for he was the same kind man that she missed. In this life, he was a simple civilian who was born and raised here in the Fire Capital. His parents were simple scholars who could barely make end meet on the salary they earned. However, they were happy and content to live here and help as many as he could with what he had. He used to spare time to teach the poor children to read and write with no charge, so that they would have more chance of finding employment in the future. Being their son, Iruka had inherited all of their kindness and scholarly ways, continuing to teach the unfortunate children without caring about his own advancement in the world, and content to own so little that Sakura could not help but admire him more and more every day.

Kakashi told her that he had met the ex-chunin through his father-in-law, since Iruka used to work under Yasuhiro as one of the senior scribes in the Royal Archive. It was a respectable position with comfortable income as well as many opportunities for promotion. However, much like this parents, Iruka's greatest ambition was never career advancement. Rather, his dream was to save enough money to open a school that would teach all children free of charge. Considering Iruka's selflessness, this was nigh impossible as he was wont to give away his money in order to help others on a regular basis to the extent that his savings would never accumulate enough without help. Realizing this as soon as he met Iruka, Kakashi donated a hefty sum of money to build a sizable home in the gate district for Iruka to live in and use as a school to teach the poor and inopportune children. He also offered to pay Iruka a regular wage so that he could maintain his living only by teaching. Iruka was predictably overjoyed at such generosity, but stubbornly refused to accept the salary for himself. In the end, Kakashi had to resort to threats of taking back his donation unless Iruka took his salary for him to grudgingly accept it. Almost immediately, he quitted his job at the archive and never looked back since. His heart and soul had been poured into this makeshift school and many lives had been made better for it.

Before long, Sakura reached the residence now popularly named 'Umino School'. She knocked gently and the door immediately opened to reveal a pretty young woman who positively beamed at the sight her.

"Sakura-san, thank goodness it's you!" Iruka's wife, Umino Masami, gushed out with massive relief at her arrival. "Iruka has been sick with fever for the past few days, but he refused to send me to get you. I was so worried but he insisted that I shouldn't be disturbing you! It was all so infuriating!"

"Don't worry." Sakura smiled at the cheerful woman whose relief was so palpable from the way she rattled on about her bottled up worry. "I'll make sure he is as good as new in no time."

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that!" The woman said. "That man is really too stubborn for his own good! I should have listened to my pa and marry that shopkeeper from the trade district instead!"

Sakura laughed out loud in the most unladylike way. "Even though he is greasy and obese?"

Masami chuckled evilly. "Even so." Then, they went together inside, and even though he was sick, Iruka would never let himself become idle. Already he was up from his bed and writing a new lesson he planned to teach his class once he got better. Upon hearing glowering from his beloved wife, he turned to see them and exclaimed happily when he saw Sakura.

"Sakura, it's good to see you!" He started to get up to greet her, but in two quick strides, his wife was already hauling him back to bed.

"Idiot!" She barked at him and tucked him in his blanket against his sputtering and protests. "I told you to stay in bed, didn't I? And look where I find you, you idiot!"

Iruka laughed it off drily, and turned to Sakura for help. "Ahh, how are you, Sakura? I'm surprised you aren't going to the Daimyo's court today."

"Hand, please." Sakura sat down next to his bed and started to check his pulse. "The Daimyo's wife is feeling a little unwell today, so there is no point in going. I decided to come here instead."

Iruka replied to that with a snort. "You always decide to come here as often as you can anyway. Both you and Tenten."

Sakura let out a short laugh at that, for it was true. After being presented and introduced to court as Kakashi's daughters, both her and Tenten were welcomed with opened arms, if not heart and mind, by the ever-unpredictable courtiers. Due to Kakashi's high rank as one of the most celebrated military commander, the girls were constantly sought after as companions in the hope that they could rely on them for favors in the future. It was a rather sickening thing really, to be appreciated not for oneself but for the expected future benefits. Their sincerity was as real as a wisp of mist in the midday sun. So, despite ending up as the new darlings of the noble circle, it was no surprise to the old sage or Kakashi to find that the girls did not like going to court and preferred to spend their days elsewhere in a much more productive fashion.

"That's because we can be much more useful here than over there." Sakura replied vacantly as she continued to focus on feeling Iruka's pulse and gently sending a tiny amount of chakra into his body to monitor his condition. After she was satisfied that his illness was only of a trifling nature, she prescribed a list of herbs needed for his medicine to his wife and told her to make certain that he drank it all, a request which the said wife reassured her emphatically that she would follow to the letter.

"Otherwise…" she sent a deadly glare toward her husband, to which he raised his hands up in a sign of surrender.

"I know, I know." He replied quickly. "Otherwise you'll marry the obese merchant instead."

After that, Sakura headed downstairs to find patients already waiting for her. Luckily for them, the Umino School was built spaciously enough with spare room that Sakura could use as her makeshift clinic. The children who saw her arrival always helped bringing in as many patient as they could to her and promptly fell into their tasks that they divided among themselves, as Sakura had taught them. The younger children were arranging patients into groups and queuing them according to their priority, while the other helped the patients who could not move well on their own, and the rest were giving out medicine according to Sakura's prescription. The older children with more experience and better judgment helped treated minor injuries that did not require Sakura's expertise. Smiling proudly, she was sure that with time and proper training, all of them would no doubt become great medic in their own right one day.

* * *

Before she knew it, hours had passed when the clinic was finally empty of patients. Just as she began to enjoy the peace and quiet, Tenten came in with a throng of worn-out children following her after the strict training session, howling for drinks and snacks to fill their empty bellies. Masami chose that very moment to emerge from the kitchen with the big tray loaded with her famous seasoned rice balls.

Chaos ensued as the battle for food began between Sakura and Tenten and the children until there was nothing left in existence on that tray. Then, an hour after the pleasant meal had finished, most of the children waved them goodbye and went home to help their parents with chores, leaving Sakura and Tenten to themselves.

"Well," Tenten got up and stretched tired muscles adeptly. "Shall we call it a day?"

Not even hiding her yawn, Sakura nodded sleepily in assent. But just as they were about to pack up and call it a day, they were interrupted as a young girl named Kimura Hanako frantically pushed the door opened and unceremoniously crashed into the room.

"Sakura-neechan, Tenten-neechan, help!" She tried to get the words out without choking on her breath. "The loan sharks are here! They are attacking my grandpa!"

In a split second, Tenten was already out the door and Sakura told the girl to go upstairs and hide here before she too sprinted toward the Kimura's home.

Luckily, both she and Tenten had been there before to visit the Kimura-obaasan who had been too ill to come to the clinic herself. They reached the house in record time the find seven men already surrounded the Kimura-ojiisan.

"Please, three more days and I'll pay you back, I promise!" He was begging on his knees. "I'll pay everything back!"

"Do you take us for fools?!" The largest man, obviously the leader of this group, spat directly onto the old man's face and barked at him. "You said you'll have the money ready the last time! We're not going to wait anymore!"

He delivered a brutal kick into the Kimura-ojiisan's abdomen, drawing out a guttural cry of pain from the feeble old man, and just as he was about to punch him in the face, Sakura moved in and caught his hand in her deathly grip while Tenten gently but swiftly pulled the old man aside out of harm's way. The brutish man tried to pull his hand away from her grip, but to no avail.

"Come now." Deliberately applying pressure on her grip, Sakura said in a sickeningly sweet voice. "There is no need to be so rude. Let's talk this out like civilized people."

With a seemingly gentleness, she pushed the man back towards his lackey where he landed awkwardly on top of them with a loud thud. With the commotion as a cover, Sakura went over to Kimura-ojiisan immediately while Tenten switched place with her.

"What the heck are you doing?!" After scrambling into place, the loan shark leader shouted at him, enraged at being embarrassed in front of his lackeys. "Stay out of the business of your betters, whore!"

Tenten's ears twitched at the word 'whore' and the atmosphere turned eerily silent.

Cracking her knuckles now, Tenten asked in the barest whisper. "Who. Are. You. Calling. Whore?"

Sakura knew they were really, really going to get it now.

* * *

True to Sakura's prediction, five minutes later, Tenten had thoroughly mobbed the floor with the low-life for good measure while Sakura had finally finished healing Kimura-ojiisan. All those men high-tailed and ran out of there without looking back as soon as Tenten let them. She yelled at them never to come back again.

"Thank you, Sakura-san, Tenten-san." Kimura quietly mumbled his thanks and tried futilely to dry his tears. His frail hands were shaking badly as he tried to sit up properly.

"Kimura-san, did you take the loan from them again?" Sakura gently asked to weeping old man. Guilt-stricken, the old man could only nod feebly and hid his face in shame.

"Ojiisan, you promised!" Tenten groaned exasperatedly. "You said you are never going to borrow from them again the last time!"

"I know…" His voice was remorseful as he sniffed through all his tears. "I didn't want to, but my son…"

He began to weep even more bitterly at the mention of his son, so they led him back into the house and waited until he could compose himself. It took them a full hour to gently coax the story out of him. To make a long story short, a few months ago, his son and little Hanako's father returned from a five-year disappearance in his quest to make his fortune elsewhere. As expected, the weasel returned with nothing but a grand scheme of how he was going to 'get rich quick' and shamelessly asked his father to get him some money so his plan could be executed. His old father refused, of course, having given all his life-savings to his son for such endeavors once with nothing in return. The Kimura son was angry and threatened that if he could not give him the money he needed, he would sell their only granddaughter to one of the brothels in the red light district, as was within his rights as Hanako's father. Without any other choice, Kimura-ojiisan grudgingly conceded and took out the loan for his greedy son, whose promise to return with piles of money turned into nothing but hot air, and as the time for repayment drew to a close, the loan sharks were finally here to collect their money.

"They were going to take Hanako away." The Kimura-obaasan cried bitterly as she concluded her telling of the men's visit. "So I told Hanako to slip quietly out the back and hide at Iruka-san's house.

"Can I have a look at the loan contract, Kimura-san?" Sakura asked, trying, and failing, to hide the weariness in her voice. Kimura-obaasan took out the loan contract from her kimono sleeve and handed it to Sakura with trembling hands.

Glancing quickly over the loan contract, Sakura's heart sank quickly. To say that the Kimura was in dire strait would be an understatement now.

"What does it say?" Tenten prompted her. When Sakura did not answer, she impatiently walked over to read the contract herself.

"How much money did you take from them, Kimura-san?" Sakura asked again as Tenten's eyes widened at the figure stated written on the paper.

"Three- Three hundred ryo…"

"But…" Tenten sputtered. "The contract said you owe them three thousand!"

"Three thousand…?" Kimura-obaasan could barely mouth the word. "But… that's impossible! We would never…"

"We didn't take that much money!" Ojiisan also cried out pitifully. "They told us to sign the contract, but we couldn't read… And they said it was three hundred!"

"They have played you for fools, those bastards." Tenten concluded. "They rigged the contract!"

"This wouldn't be the first time they do it anyway." Sakura seethed inwardly. In fact, this was a far too common occurrence in this awful place. The moneylenders often took advantage of the illiterate people and trapped them into a hideously unfair terms, and with the signature on the paper, they were then obligated by law to fulfil the terms of the contract no matter the circumstances. To make things worse, these moneylenders often bribed the relevant officials to not take actions against the deceitful practice, so despite many complaints being made to the authority, the matter was never truly resolved. Sure, they made a few investigations for appearance's sake, and the matter was left buried in the mountain of paperwork and the victims forgotten and condemned to their sufferings.

She wasn't going to let this family suffer the same fate.

"Quickly." She helped Kimura-obaasan up on her feet. "We need to get to the Umino School."

* * *

Under the cover of Sakura's genjutsu, they arrived at Iruka's place unseen. Those who observed them would only see Sakura and Tenten leaving the Kimura's home. Despite being ill himself, Iruka refused to sit this one out and demanded to hear the whole story.

"You should have come to me for help." Iruka berated the crying family exasperatedly. "I've told you not to go to these bloodsucking leeches again."

"I'm sorry…" The old man sniffed and wiped his face with his sleeve. "I just… didn't want to be anymore indebted to you… We haven't even paid back all that we owe before…"

"Iruka, that's enough." Masami put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Your scowl is scaring Hanako-chan already."

All in the room turned to the child who was sobbing quietly next to Masami, and the silence became even more intense. Even though her eyes and nose were puffy and red from her tears, she was still as pretty as a flower, just like her name. It was no wonder why those loan shark would agree to lend the Kimura such a sum of money, knowing they would never be able to pay back. They were hoping to claim the girl and sell her to brothels, just as her father wanted. She would undoubtedly fetch a handsome price with her pretty round eyes and tiny nose that was the fashion of this day and age.

"Masami, can you take the Kimura to rest in the spare bedroom?" Iruka asked. Masami nodded and gently led the reluctant child and grandparents out as the rest remained to discuss the next course of action. The older couple seemed to want to protest, but found no strength to press to issue and obediently follow Masami out.

After making sure they were out of earshot, Iruka broke the heavy silence between them.

"The contract is valid," he confirmed the fear in everyone's mind. "Just as we expected."

"Then they can't stay here anymore." Sakura said. "They need to leave the city immediately."

"Wait! Can't we appeal to someone to revoke the contract?" Tenten asked. "It was rigged after all!"

"It wouldn't work." Iruka shook his head sadly. "Even if it can be proven that the contract was rigged, they did take the money. They will still be obligated to repay what they don't have anyway."

"So that's it?" Tenten bit out angrily. "This isn't fair! They did nothing to deserve this! Why should they be the one on the run? If anyone should be punished, it's those moneylenders and their bloody son!"

"I know, Tenten. I know." Iruka rubbed his temples tiredly. "But who's going to listen to them? To us? They've got the law on their side."

"The old sage can help us! And when Kakashi-sensei is back from his battle he will know who to speak to, right? They won't have to leave!"

But the silence in the room indicated a negative answer to her question.

Tenten's anger deflated, and frustrated tears replaced it. Sakura was instantly by her side as she tried to wipe them off her face.

"It's just not fair." She said, the exhaustion in her voice echoed softly in the room. "Where is the justice for them? They were just trying to do their best…"

"I know…" Sakura whispered back, trying to comfort her friend as much as she could in her miserable state. "I understand…"

She turned to Iruka beseechingly, asking with her tear-lit eyes if there was truly no way for a different outcome, to which he simply shook his head again in a negative reply.

"You know this isn't something that can be solved with just Nohara-sama and Kakashi-san. This is an organized crime." He said, his tone gentle with understanding. "More than just those thugs and some low-level officials are involved in this. The blood money made from these kind of things goes much further than that. It flows back to much higher people than we can ever find out."

Sakura gently wiped the tears from Tenten's eyes as both of them listened to Iruka.

"If we disrupt their operations using Nohara-sama and Kakashi-san's name, those people will know, and soon enough they will somehow use their influence to target them. And we can't let that happen."

Then, gazing into Tenten's eyes, he asked. "You understand this, right?"

Reluctantly, Tenten nodded. All her anger simmered down, but the feeling of injustice was not soothed. Nonetheless, she was willing to back down, for now.

"Now, I have some contacts who can smuggle the family out of the city to a safe place. But we must work quickly."

"And," he threw a meaningful glance to both girls. "I'm going to need your help."

* * *

That was how Sakura and Tenten ended up escorting the Kimura family out of the city well into the evening when they should already be returning home. Their objective was to get their three charges to caravan that was waiting outside of the city gate unseen. The caravan would only wait until midnight before they left. Should everything go accordingly to plan, the Kimura would be out of the city before anyone was the wiser, and then no one would be able to find them and they would be safe.

The catch was, the loan sharks surely knew that the Kimura would find some way to escape their clutch tonight. Being the greedy bastards that they were, they were unlikely to let the Kimura escape unhindered. This was a problem, for transporting three people, two elders and one child to be precise, quickly enough to remain undetected was by no means an easy feat. While Sakura would have preferred to leave during the day and blended in the throng of people around them, the caravan insisted that they only met after the sky was dark where the likelihood of them being seen transporting the Kimura out of the city was significantly lower.

Tenten took the lead in front of the family while Sakura covered their flank with Hanako on her back. Once again she casted her genjutsu so that they remained invisible to naked eyes of civilians. She prayed fervently that there would be no ninja sent out after them who could see through the genjutsu. She knew for a fact that these kind of criminal organizations hired many ninjas as their lieutenants and paid them handsomely for it, but she just clung to the hope that they wouldn't send the more skilled ones out after them tonight.

A slim hope, considering their encounter earlier this afternoon.

But then again, Sakura was confident in her genjutsu. After all, with her own natural coupled with Kakashi's intensive training in the past three years, her skills in the area improved immeasurably. If the ninja sent after them were the shoddy kind that were abound in this line of work, then she wouldn't be worried at all.

Since she needed to divide her concentration between projecting her genjutsu to all passerbys and threading as stealthily as possible, their progress were necessarily slowed. It was normally half an hour of power walk from Iruka's home to the city gate, but the distance that did not seem so far before stretched out endlessly. Nerves were highly strung as they kept their formation tight and waded their way through the mostly empty street.

All seemed to be going well as they made their way unimpeded, until they approached the city gate…

Where twenty heavily-armed thugs were waiting for them in place of the city guards.

Their entourage halted and Tenten immediately looked to Sakura. Thanks to their intimate knowledge of one another, Sakura could understand the question in Tenten's eyes in an instant.

_Will your genjutsu be able to get us through?_

Sakura tried to gauge the enemy's strength. While her sensing ability was nothing more than that of an average ninja, she had a few tricks up her sleeves which she learnt from Ino long ago. Focusing with her mind, she tried to sense whether there was any ninja among the enemy.

_Visualize you awareness with you as a center._ She could still hear Ino's voice as if she was right beside her. _Once you got that, try to slowly spread it out like a circle field with your chakra…_

Following Ino's instruction, she slowly panned out her awareness. She could sense that at least three of the men were trained to use chakra, but fortunately, she could tell that their chakra flow was not well-developed enough to detect or withstand her genjutsu.

Relieved at the information, she gave a quick nod to Tenten who came over to take the terrified Hanako from Sakura. Then, as discreetly as she could, Sakura formed her hand seals and casted her genjutsu over the thugs. While it wasn't an overly complicated technique, she needed to exert more control since the thugs were already alert for their arrival. She needed to make sure that her genjutsu was strong enough to completely mask their escape.

Once she was sure everything was in order, she nodded to Tenten and the Kimura to move forward. The Kimura looked as if they were about to expire from fear, but for the sake of their granddaughter they began to move their stiff legs. Tenten padded Hanako's back reassuringly as she clutched the girl tighter to her chest and Sakura slowly followed them while maintaining her hand sign.

The guards continued to monitor their surrounding diligently as they moved closer to their blockade. Their eyes darted around suspiciously in every direction that was led to the gate. Sakura began to breathe easier as they reached to gate and were about to step out of them.

"What's going on here?" A harsh voice from behind penetrated the thick silence that surrounded them, and Sakura's heart sank to her feet.

Sakura's body tensed, automatically readying herself for battle. She turned and saw a city guard walking steadily toward them with his sword drawn.

Just as she was about to tell Tenten and the Kimura to run, the officer pointed his sword toward the thugs who were looking sullen at his appearance.

"What in the hells are you lot doing here?" He barked at them. "Get the blockade out this very instant! Then get yourselves out of the way immediately!"

The brutish man stepped forward, obviously annoyed at the interruption. Sakura recognized him immediately as the man from the earlier encounter today.

"We are allowed to be here, officer." He said smugly, reaching for a pouch of coin from his sleeve and dangled it temptingly in front of the guard. "Move along and remember that you see nothing."

"You fucking louts!" The guard pointed his sword threateningly at the thug's throat, much to Sakura's grim satisfaction. "I said. Move. It. NOW!"

Not wanting to lose another second, Tenten and Sakura hurriedly ushered to Kimura out of the gate without further ado. It took all her patience to not break into a run as the commotion effectively distracted all of the men's attention to the intruding guard.

But had she linger a minute longer, she would have heard the said guard bellow angrily.

"I'm here on the Daimyo's order! I'm here to clear the gate to prepare for the Uchiha's arrival!"

* * *

Once the city gate was clearly out of sight, the whole lot of them managed to breathe a sigh of relief before rushing towards their rendezvous point with the caravan. They ran through the darkness under the cover of the trees until they saw a flicker of light from a distance, the signal that they were told to watch for.

Tenten approached the light alone while the rest waited at safe distance with Sakura, who watched as Tenten cautiously approached a lone figure next to the firelight. They appeared to exchange a few words, a code that Iruka had given them. A moment later, Sakura felt another wave of relief washing over her as Tenten beckoned them over with the biggest smile on her face. It had been a tiring and a nerve-wrecking evening, and she would be glad to finally see the end of it.

So, it was not her fault that she was totally unprepared for the shock of seeing Gai standing next to Tenten with Lee behind him.

* * *

**Author's note**

Honestly, this chapter was meant to be longer, but it took a lot out of me to make it this far. I'm so tired that I can barely keep my eyes opened now, so I'm just going to post this as it is. And considering how long I've made you all wait for this, this might be the better thing to do than postponing it for another week.

So if you spot any sloppy grammar and misspelling, please let me know stat. I will fix it ASAP.

From this point on, the story will get a full-on action mode. Hopefully. I hope I can actually manage it without killing the story or myself sleeping regime in the process. And also hopefully, I can churn out the story at a faster pace than this. So it's your job to make sure I'm properly motivated, mkay? ;)

On another note, I notice a lot of new follows just from the last chapter. Almost fifty new follows, just for one chapter.

I guess Sasuke is really *that* popular, huh?

But Naruto's fan, don't fret! Sasuke may shine in the last chapter, but Naruto won't be out of the count for long! He will be back with G-L-O-R-I-O-U-S screen time waiting for him, I promise. So just hang in there guys! :D

In fact, after the next few or more chapters, Sasuke's fan might not think so kindly of me for a little tiny while. (Can Sasuke's fan identify themselves, so I know who to hide from when the time come? Please?) XD

As always, thanks for reading guys, and don't forget to leave a review that will melt the ice of laziness that had frozen my heart and my muse!


	8. Chapter 7

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 7_

* * *

_The roar of raging flames surrounding him was all he could hear as he struggled to get up from the ground. The ringing in his ears from the blast that sent him sprawling less than a minute ago blocked out all the sounds of battle and screams of agony around him. He strained desperately to span his sense further, but the smoke was getting to him. His vision was turning hazy and the heat made it harder and harder to breathe. _

_Through the sheer strength of will, he managed to push himself off the ground on his hands and knees. His arms wobbled dangerously, but he stilled them just in time before his face met the floor again. He kept low to avoid the black smoke above and navigated carefully to avoid the wreckage below. He needed to find his parents and his family, and he needed to find them and get out of here now before everything came crashing down upon them literally. _

_However, luck wasn't on his side tonight. Blocking his path out of the burning room was a young man with numerous bones protruding haphazardly from his arms and torso. He had no doubt that those bones were as sharp and as deadly as he remembered from long ago. The copious amount of crimson blood that stained the bones on his body and in his hand told Naruto that he must have slain at least a fair share of his__ Uzumaki__ kinsmen already. And after seeing him striding purposefully towards him, Naruto was pretty damn sure that he was the next one on the list._

_Squeezing out the last bit of his strength, Naruto attempted to ready himself for the fight once again. However, he had been fighting non-stop for a very long time since the Kaguya and the Shimura clan breached through the stronghold defense, more than the last forty-eight hours at the very least. Even though his stamina was considered almost limitless even by his older kinsmen, the exertion wore him down almost as much as the lack of rest, and the deprivation began to take its toll on his physical body. On top of that, the current state of his mind was much, much worse, since he was forced to witness countless deaths of those he knew and loved without being able to save them. _

_If only he was back at his full strength, he was sure things would have turned out differently. But being stuck in his twelve-year-old body once again, he hadn't been able to regain all of his abilities. Certainly, his stamina and his chakra control was much better than his __past__ twelve-year-old self, but it was nowhere near when he was at his peak during the fourth shinobi world war at seventeen. He could still use rasengan and his mind remembered how to use other jutsu that he had learnt from previously, but it was his physical body that limited him from __executing__ the higher-level jutsu. It would take years of growing and retraining to get __his physical __back to the state where it used to be._

_Nevertheless, with considerable effort, he pushed himself into a fighting stance and prepared himself for the toughest fight to come. _

_Naruto really did try to ready his mind for the battle, just as he forced his body forward. A ninja should never let his emotions get the better of him, his instructors always told him so. The world they lived in was a cold, harsh place that left no time to regret what was lost. But no matter how hard he tried, he found himself unable to reconcile to senseless slaughter that almost completely obliterated his clansmen. And now, seeing Kimimaro standing in front of him, his face void of any expression, Naruto felt as if he was the embodiment of everything that he despised._

_The first time he saw this man, he was trying to take Sasuke away from him. And now, now that he actually had a big family that made him feel so loved and so completed, this hateful person had once again succeeded in taking them away from him. This time, for forever._

_And just for a fleeting moment, he felt himself slipping into the oblivion called vengeance as it took over his thoughts. His mind was hazed with fury and revulsion, and that moment was enough to send him charging blindly toward the intruder to his home. _

_Only to be pulled back by a pair of hands stronger than his own…_

_The man now called Tenzou, or formerly known as Captain Yamato by himself, was pulling Naruto back as the flash of yellow flickered before him. Then, materializing from thin air in a blink of an eye, Minato came to stand in front of his son, effectively shielding him from the enemy who stood still, stoically observing the sight before him with no perturbation or surprise in his features._

"_Tou-chan…" Naruto croaked through this parched throat. Minato scooped his young son into his arms and put him onto his shoulder and flashed away before the enemy could even blink. _

_After a few second of dizzying sensation, Naruto found himself being separated from the Uzumaki Fortress by the large stretch of water and realized his father must have teleported them from the Hidden Whirlpool island to the mainland of the Land of Fire. He must have somehow placed one of his markings here before all the fighting had started._

_Gently, Minato pulled his son down from his shoulder and Tenzou immediately reached out to take Naruto from him. _

"_Tenzou, take Naruto and go." Minato instructed in a stern voice that Naruto hardly ever heard from his father's lips. "I will help Ashira-sama and Kushina with the final sealing, and then I will rejoin you."_

"_No, tou-chan!" Naruto yelled as his father turned to leave. If it hadn't been the fatigue finally getting to him, he would have practically flown out of Tenzou's arms. "I want to go with you! I can still help! We can still drive those bastards out of our home! I can help you!" _

_Hearing the fire in his son's words, Minato turned back to face him, his expression unsmiling and grave._

"_Understand this, Naruto." Minato's voice was unusually stern. "The battle is already lost. Our home is lost."_

_Naruto opened his mouth to protest, but was silenced by his father's words._

"_The only thing you can do now is retreat. I will go and defend Ashira-sama and Kushina during the final sealing." His eyes darkened at the possibility of death that hanged thickly in the air. "Then, if fate is kind, we will regroup to fight another day."_

_With that, he flashed out of sight as Naruto gave a gut-wrenching wail._

* * *

Naruto woke up with a start as he finally freed himself from his nightmare, or rather, his haunting memory. He was drenched in sweat as he pushed himself up from his sprawling position, and breathed a sigh of relief as he found himself in the waking world again.

It had been more than five years since the Hidden Whirlpool had been attacked by the Shimura and Kaguya clan. The place was now under the iron grip and sole control of the treacherous Shimura clan. As for the Kaguya clan, apparently their 'allies' decided to feed them to the wolves. They let the Kaguya marched in ahead and abandoned them to die so that they could reap all the rewards for themselves, and the Kaguya was now roughly in the same position as the Uzumaki, seeing how their lands were now overrun by the Shimura clan as well.

While Naruto wasn't sure if he should revel in the Kaguya's demise or pity them for it, he was more than certain that he could never loath anyone more than Shimura Danzou, the Shimura's clan leader, for it was he who was the mastermind behind it all. He was the one who planned their destruction and slaughter to the very last detail. Fortunately, the man didn't quite succeed in obliterating the Uzumaki as he did with the Kaguya.

A small number of them had managed to escape that night by the order of Ashira-sama, the Uzumaki clan leader. After sealing away almost the entirety of their clan's treasures and artifacts, the white-haired clan leader elected to remain behind to buy time for the rest of them to make their escape. He asked Minato to teleport everyone to safety with his flying thunder god technique, and as his last order, he left the task of restoring their clan to Kushina and the rest of the surviving Uzumaki who grudgingly departed, leaving the old man to perform his duty one last time by protecting those he loved.

The first year after they managed to make their escape had been the most difficult, both physically and mentally. While he was rejoined by his parents, much to his relief, they were separated and relentlessly hunted down again by the Shimura hunter ninja who finally tracked them down after months of relentless pursuit. In the midst of a fierce fight, Naruto was forced to flee with Tenzou and even he was hard-pressed to protect both himself and Naruto at times, even as skilled as he was. They were constantly being tailed, and as long as they were being followed, they could not return to their secret base and endanger the others who were there.

So they did all they could in order to be rid of their pursuers, and just when they thought they finally succeeded, the Shimura hunters ambushed them. The leader of the group ordered the rest of his team to capture Naruto alive and promptly attacked the two lone ninja.

Normally such a group would not pose much problem for ninja of Tenzou's caliber, but unfortunately for Naruto, the hunter ninja fought dirty and underhandedly delivered a crippling blow that slowly immobilized him and had him severely injured. Tenzou told him to run and covered his exit as Naruto tried to get away from the battle as stealthily as possible.

He was on an unfamiliar territory and he was losing his consciousness fast, so he wasn't sure how he managed to return to an empty room at the inn that he had stayed at the night before. But at that point, he no longer had enough strength to go elsewhere. He tried to remain as quiet as possible, but when he heard the creaking of the door and the sound of footsteps, he thought it was all over. He was out of stamina, out of chakra, and out of weapon. Perhaps today was finally the end for him.

Still, he was never one to go down without a fight, and as the owner of the soft footsteps came close to him, he used the last of his strength to tackle him to the ground.

Only to find it was the last person he had expected, tonight of all the nights.

It was his Sakura-chan.

And he promptly collapsed on top of her.

When he woke up again, Sakura was already gone, or rather, he was already taken away from her by Tenzou. Immediately, against Tenzou's protest, he frantically went back to find her, but she was already gone, leaving him with her necklace as the only evidence that she wasn't just a dream.

And so he kept the keepsake with him all this time, never letting it out of his sight. Even when the delicate necklace became much too small for him to wear, he kept it in a small stringed pouch that he took to wearing around his neck instead.

Then, after the fateful meeting with Sakura, they managed to lose their pursuers and made it to the Uzumaki hideout in one piece. His cousins, Karin and others, had already been waiting there for some times as well as his parents and some other surviving clansmen. They were not going to wait much longer for survivors in fear of being discovered, so it was most fortunate that Naruto and Tenzou managed to arrive when they did.

After much deliberation between the older clansmen, the next course of action were finally planned out. While the goal was obviously to retake their stronghold back from the grasp of the greedy Shimura, but the method which would enable them to do so was not as straightforward.

However, what was clear at this stage was that the children must be kept safe out of the Shimura's way. So, despite Naruto's protest, it was decided that the children would be sent to live with their most steadfast ally, the Senju.

* * *

Even though the dawn still hadn't arrived, Naruto decided he couldn't go back to sleep anymore. So he got up, quickly dressed himself and sprinted outside into the dark.

Due to his sunny disposition and friendly nature, it wasn't often that he had to spend his time in solitude. More often than not, people flocked to him for his company, and he couldn't be more ecstatic about that.

But sometimes, sometimes he felt the need to be away from all the bustles and reflect about things quietly by himself. Even though he wasn't alone anymore, he couldn't rid himself of the loneliness that still plagued his heart.

Not until he found them.

He ran from the Senju compound until he was surrounded by dense forestation where the settlements had not yet been established. He came to a complete stop when he reached the cliff where the faces of the Hokage used to be. Now it was empty saved for a few crack and vines, and the surrounding buildings and homes were now replaced by trees. That didn't take the feeling of nostalgia away, however. In fact, it magnified the homesickness he was feeling. Konoha had been his home for as long as he remembered, and to see it gone was difficult, to say the least.

Additionally, now that his second home with the Uzumaki family had been taken from him too, he felt more than a little bit lost. His parents and the Uzumaki clansmen were off scouring the land for survivors and allies who could help them in their quest to win back their home. It more than grated on his nerves that he was stuck here rather than out there with his parents, but since his mother extracted a promise from him to stay here, there was nothing he could do but grudgingly acquiesced to her request and stay put, for now.

After racing himself up the cliff, he laid down on the grass and watched the sun rising in the horizon. As the sun began to light the sky in colors, he took out the little necklace Sakura had given him and inspected it for the hundredth time. The little violet crystal was carved into the shape of a cherry blossom flower, obviously her namesake. It was such a perfect representation of her, the seemingly delicate appearance belied the strength that was hidden inside. That was one of the things that he loved so much about her.

He wondered where she was and what she was doing now. He wanted to go back and search for her, but wasn't allowed to. He made several attempts to sneak out, but was always caught either by the Senju guards or his cousin, Uzumaki Karin. And after that lecture Nawaki-sama gave him about endangering the rest of his people by doing so, he grudgingly accepted the fact that he would have to wait a little longer before he could go out and search for her on his own.

In the meantime, he poured all his effort into training to become stronger, strong enough so that one day he would retake his home back for his family, stop the cycle of hatred as he vowed to do before and bring his team back together, somehow. He wasn't sure how he could do it, but as he laid down on where Konoha was supposed to be, he felt strangely empowered. After all, he did ask fate for a second chance with his dying breath, and he was sure he wasn't sent here by mere coincidence. Granted, it wasn't perfect, but he would take it. He was going to give it his all no matter what, and he was sure he would get his happy ending this time.

"Oi, why do you have that drooling smirk on your face?"

He was so thoroughly lost in his thought that he failed to notice the shadow looming over him until he heard that voice. He looked up to see his cousin, Uzumaki Karin, standing over him with her arms across her chest. She looked quite annoyed at him, though, and that was not a good sign.

"What's up, Karin-neechan?" He asked with his usual goofy smile on his face, all the while still lying on the ground without the intention to get up. "What are you doing out here so early?"

"I should be the one asking you that question!" Karin answered with an annoyed twitch. "Aren't you supposed to be training with Jiraiya-sama right now, baka?"

All was silent for a few seconds, before a loud scream echoed throughout the forest.

"Ahhhhhh, I forgot!" Immediately Naruto sprang from the ground. "He told me to go train with him by the waterfall today! Gotta go Karin-neechan!"

And with that, he teleported himself back to the Senju compound utilizing his father's famed technique, leaving Karin stranded alone among the wilderness.

"Damn you, Naruto! Why didn't you shunshin me back as well?!" She muttered under her breath as she started her long trek back to the compound after her scatterbrained cousin.

* * *

While the Uchiha clan was considered a very powerful and influential clan, it was still not the most respected one. That particular title unquestionably belonged to an equally powerful Senju clan. While both clan were equally wealthy and well-connected, the Senju had what the Uchiha had never been able to obtain.

They had the people's love.

The Senju ninjas were renowned far and wide for their charity and kindness. Those who were fortunate enough to the recipient of such philanthropy rejoiced in their fortune, for the Senju was one of the most generous patrons one could hope to find in a world such as this one. Those who worked for them were hardly ever left hungry or wanting in all elements of necessity such as food, clothing, medicine and a roof over their head, even in time of strife. And when the land and weather were particularly kind, they were even able to scrape of a decent savings instead of being bled dry by extortions and taxes as they would have been elsewhere. Thus, it was little wonders why the Senju was so well-loved by the common people under their protection.

As for their ninja allies, they were esteemed and respected to say the very least. They were always as good as their words, and their promises were considered more precious than gold. Their allegiance, although not lightly given, was as concrete as the earth itself. More often than not they were loyal to a fault and would go to great lengths to defend their allies, even if they had to shoulder the cost for doing so.

Moreover, they were one of the few clans who trained those without blood relation to them and let them join the clan. To say that the practice was almost unheard of would be nothing less than accurate. Most ninja clans reserved their teachings to their descendants and close relatives, but with the Senju, provided that the candidate's loyalty could be irrefutably proven, all were welcome to join their ranks with an opened arms. While this was very risky in terms of security, it meant the clan hosted the highest number of powerful shinobi at any given time, making them a dominant force not to be trifled with.

All in all, there was no other clan name that could carry as much weight as theirs.

However, as well-intentioned and kind as they were, their generosity could only extend so far. After all, no matter how rich and powerful they were, the Senju was just one clan. There was a limit to how much they could do. No matter how idealistic they were, they could not neglect their own survival in the unforgiving world they were living in, and this was why they could not directly avenge the Shimura clan for the heinous crime committed upon their cousins, the Uzumaki.

As soon as they heard of the assault upon the Hidden Whirlpool, the clan leader Senju Nawaki immediately ordered his people to lend aid to the Uzumaki in whatever way they could. However, the Shimura and Kaguya's attack was well-concealed, and with the Uzumaki information network cut off, by the time they received the call for help from their cousins, the siege had already been going on for three weeks with no victory in sight. Considering the large distance between the two clans, there was no possible way that the Senju reinforcement could reach the Hidden Whirlpool in time.

So, instead of sending the large forces to drive off the invaders, Nawaki had to be contented with sending several teams of shinobi to rescue as many survivors as they could. As expected, once the rescue teams arrived, they found the Shimura firmly entrenched within the Uzumaki Stronghold. However, there were no signs of the Uzumaki survivors. If there was any, they had either been long gone from the place or remained in captivity within the heavily defended fortress. Even as skilled as they were, they were not foolhardy enough to infiltrate the place and left with only a disappointing news to report to their lord. At first, Nawaki didn't quite give up hope for survivors. The Uzumaki produced nothing less than elite shinobi whose vitality and stamina were second to none, and he doubted that even such a harrowing event as this could wipe the clan out of existence. But as time went on, he heard nothing from his cousins and his hope began to dim.

However, approximately a few months later, Nawaki was surprised to receive a visit from none other than Namikaze Minato, the former resident of the Senju clan who left to marry Uzumaki Kushina and lived with her in her home village, the Hidden Whirlpool.

Having always regarded Minato as his own one of his own family, Nawaki was overjoyed to see him alive and well. Immediately he acquiesced to Minato's request to let the Uzumaki children stay here with them and promised to assist in the retaking of the stronghold in whatever way possible.

So, that was why Naruto was here in the Senju clan, training with Jiraiya well into the afternoon to make up for being late this morning. Since he was one of the most powerful warriors of the Senju elites, he was often sent out on missions and spent a great deal of his time away from the clan. However, whatever time he had to spare, he would spend most of it with his love, Senju Tsunade, and his favorite godson and pupil, Naruto. Having seen Minato since he was young and trained him himself, Jiraiya was more than happy to be spending time with his son. While he was the boy's godfather, he did not have much opportunities to see him before, and although the circumstances leading to his stay here was tragic, he was glad Naruto was able to come here largely unscathed.

On Naruto's side, he could not be more ecstatic to be reunited with his old master once more. He found the old man pretty much the same as he was before. He was kind, courageous, and more than a little perverted than before. Even though he was already in a firmly committed relationship with his childhood sweetheart, his 'curiosity' did not seem to dissipate as one might think.

While the ero-sennin retained his liveliness and his perverted side, he become such a coldhearted taskmaster when it came to training. Even now, when Naruto felt he could not move a single muscle in his body anymore, the old man still came at him in full force.

"Focus, Naruto!" Right after his warning, he sucked in a huge breath before blowing out a large stream of fire aiming right at his star pupil. He inwardly smiled as he watched Naruto fluidly avoided the series of fire bullets being hurled at him despite having been worn down previously. His lips even curled into an actual smile when he saw Naruto manipulated his wind to block out all the fire a from himself while simultaneously running towards him with a rasengan in his hand.

While Jiraiya never said it out loud, he was very proud of his latest pupil's accomplishment. He knew that the boy was insanely talented and full of potential, and the best thing about it was that he didn't let any of it go to waste. He was the most hardworking out of all his peers, Uzumaki or Senju, and the result he got from that was spectacular. His stamina was markedly better than most of his fellow ninjas, younger or older, and his ninjutsu ability was something his master loved to gloat about in the company of others when the boy himself was not present. However, strange enough, Jiraiya noted that Naruto's learning speed was rather inconsistent. While he learned some jutsu much faster than others, like rasengan and shadow clone, so Jiraiya thought it was because Minato had selectively trained him in those skills prior to his tutelage. He didn't quite suspect that the boy's experience with those techniques might have come earlier than that.

"Oi, Ero-sennin! You're fazing again!" The whiny voice broke his contemplation. "Get down here and continue our lesson!"

Honestly, if the boy wasn't so loud and always dressed in those obnoxious orange clothes of his, he would have been as cool as his father. Apparently, he had already dispatched Jiraiya's shadow clone a few minutes ago, and was quite ready to have another go. It was quite refreshing to see such enthusiasm. Even Minato and Nagoto weren't as pumped as the blonde loudmouthed boy here.

"Patience, Naruto!" Jiraiya landed on the ground from the tree he had been hiding on, and silently took note that Naruto's sensory skill was getting better as well. But just as he was about to drop into a fighting stance, he was interrupted by a servant he was running toward them.

"Jiraiya-sama, Naruto-san! Nawaki-sama has asked for you immediately! Minato-san and Kushina-san are here!"

* * *

Naruto rushed through the winding corridors to get to the meeting room where his parents were. It had been more than a year since they were here. The last visit had been too short for Naruto, to whom every moment spent with his parents was beyond precious. His heart felt lighter and lighter with every step he took to get to his destination.

Sure enough, as he opened the door, he found his parents sitting with Nawaki and Tsunade already. He promptly threw launched himself into his mother's waiting embrace.

"Naruto! You've grown taller!" Kushina remarked happily as she hugged her son tightly. Then, she took the opportunity to thoroughly inspect her son and cooed over him as if he was a child of no more than five. Her hands stroke his hair affectionately as he hug her waist tightly.

"I miss you so much, okaa-chan!"

Minato observed the mother and son's reunion with an affectionate smile and he moved closer toward them. He put his hand on Kushina's on his son's head before he gently chided his son for such a childish display of affection.

"You only seemed to have grown in size, Naruto." But even as he said this, the tone of his voice could not be gentler. "Behave yourself in front of Nawaki-sama and Tsunade-sama."

"Don't worry about us. He has been waiting to see you again for so long now." Senju Nawaki indulgingly waved his hand at Minato's comment. "Let him be a boy for a little."

Having seen Naruto since he was no more than a baby, Nawaki loved the boy as if he was his own. Perhaps it stemmed from the fact that neither he nor his sister could not have children of their own. As it was, he tended to be quite indulgent and at times even lenient toward the little troublemaker who brought color into his daily life.

"Nawaki, you're too lenient on the boy." That was from Tsunade, who in truth was just as lenient on the blonde Uzumaki. Even though she always put on a rather annoyed face and called him troublesome, she was growing very fond of his loud and colorful personality. More than that, she could feel this strange preexisting connection between them that she could not find any reason for. But she decided she didn't need to question that.

"Tsunade-baachan, you're back!" Naruto greeted her delightedly, but quickly felt her wrath upon him before the word completely left him mouth.

"I told you not to call me that, brat!" That was the indignant reply from the Senju Princess. Then, with a heavy sigh, she turned to Kushina. "He's such a handful. I honestly have no idea how you deal with him."

Just as Naruto was about to defend himself against such a claim, his mother's hand firmly clamped over his mouth as she replied deferentially to the older woman. "I'm really sorry, Tsunade-sama. He's quite the tactless one." She ignored her son's squirming and continued with a nervous laugh. "He must have gotten that from me."

"Anyway, back to the more pressing issue." Nawaki interrupted with a slight cough. "Minato, if you would like to start, let us talk about why we are all here."

The lighthearted mood in the room vanished into thin air and heavy silence cloaked them thickly like an impenetrable blanket. Even Naruto sobered and sat up straight, his bright blue eyes darting immediately to his father.

"As you all know, our first priority now is to gather as many of the surviving Uzumaki clan members as possible. We have spent a lot of resources trying to track them down, and we managed to rescue quite a few of them.

But at the same time, we are also seeking the traitors as well. The ones who cut off our communications to the outside world and let the enemies into our home that night. We have been investigating who they were, but we found no trace of them whatsoever.

Until now."

Sharp intake of breathes could be heard echoing through the silence in the room as Kushina took over.

"Last month, one of the children we rescued said he saw the identity of one of our traitors."

Then, from the sleeve of her kimono, Kushina produced a hand drawn picture of a woman. Her hair was as red as Kushina's, an unmistakable trait of an Uzumaki. Her features were delicately pretty with a pair of sweet but wistful eyes.

Naruto knew that face. He had seen her before within the clan. While he did not know her intimately, from all he had heard of her as only a kind woman, so he was taken aback to see her face on that picture.

"Her name is Uzumaki Honoka, one of my younger cousins. She brought in a Shimura spy, who opened the gate for the Kaguya force and disabled our defenses. That woman... helped the traitor struck down a few warriors on our side as well."

"Incidentally, our network reported the sighting of her recently as well." Minato said. "But this news is already a few months old, and it is possible that she may have moved on already, especially if she saw and recognized our people."

"She fears retribution, no doubt, especially if she thinks her role is now known to you." Nawaki concurred with Minato's assessment. "But are you truly certain? This is a serious accusation. Considering the enormity of the implications, what other proof do you have other than the aforementioned eye witness?"

"We have none." Minato replied. "In fact, this is why we are here."

"We need to ascertain her part in all of this. Apart from the only eye witness we have, there is no other apparent indication to her guilt. She has no obvious motive to betray us." From the tone of her voice, it was apparent to all that Kushina still had a hard time believing the worst of the younger woman she spent a large portion of her childhood with. "The woman I know has never been anything but kind and gentle, and the thought that she could do something so... vile is just... preposterous!"

"That doesn't tell us why you are here." Tsunade interjected abruptly, obviously impatient to discover the true purpose of the visit.

"I heard there is a new gambling establishment opening at the Fire Capital." With her signature mischievous smile that had been absent for a long time since their ordeal, Kushina turned to the Senju Princess. "Would you care to take Naruto there for his first... eye-opening experience?"

* * *

**Author's note**

Hi! Did anyone miss me?

I did! LOL

Lately I have come to a conclusion that I should start printing my own money. That way, I'll have more time to update this fanfic (among other things, like, I don't know, my weekend).

So it will be a major boost to my motivation to see your reviews!

I do hope Naruto's fan are happy to see him this chapter. I know story-building is taking a long time, but I think it is necessary. I want their reunion to be nothing less than purrrrfect and I'm unwilling to compromise on that. But then again, do you think this is dragging it on a little bit? I know some of you are anxious to see the three of them meet again. So let me know what you guys think, yeah?

Thanks for reading and see you next chapter! :D


	9. Chapter 8

**Somewhere I will find you**

* * *

_Chapter 8_

* * *

The celebration for the Daimyo's sixtieth birthday was fast approaching.

This event was considered one of the most significant occasion in one's lifetime, for it was quite uncommon for a man to age past forty or fifty in this world due to the higher mortality rate. Thus, reaching the sixtieth year was seen as a most magnificent fate and was meant to be exuberantly celebrated, even by the common people. So when the person in question was the most powerful man in the Land of Fire, not to mention one of the vainest in the whole continent, the celebration could be nothing less than spectacular. A month long festivities were to be held in his honor and invitations were sent to all the important people in the continent to join in the celebration. It was an occasion to show off the wealth and the power of the Land of Fire, and no expense was to be spared whatsoever.

Even though the Fire Capital was already hailed as one of the most beautiful cities in the entire continent, the auspicious occasion demanded even more aplomb than usual. Almost every stone masons were commissioned to make sure that the condition of the road within the city and the surrounding areas were in perfect condition for the incoming travelers, while the woodworkers were commissioned to renovate all the worn-down official buildings. The number of street cleaners hired by the city official at least tripled during this period the make sure that every street and pavement was spotless. The main streets were decorated lasciviously with colorful and fragrant flowers and new trees were planted to make sure the landscape was even more pleasing to the eyes than before. On top of that, red paper lanterns with elaborate calligraphy for good luck were hung and lit throughout the city on almost every building and street, giving it a soft, warm glow that illuminated the city picturesquely every night.

Thus adorned, the city was deemed ready for the celebration that would be talked of for years to come, and indeed the place had been brimming with visitors for the past few weeks. The traffic into the city was the highest that had ever been recorded in decades. Trains after trains of caravans with goods from all over the countries and lavish carriages of important dignitaries were lining up at the gate for miles just to get into the city. Coupled with the messengers and visitors who travelled on foot, the sheer number of incoming people was almost too much for the immigration officials and the city guards to deal with.

The citizens of the Fire Capital were also tremendously excited by the coming festivities as well. As part of the celebration, the Daimyo ordered various plays and other entertainment to perform every day at the town square, where everyone was welcome to see free of charge, much to the glee of everybody, young and old. And as thanks to the Gods, he also made donations to many temples for them to give out free food and clothes to the poor as well. He himself had also been parading around gate district a few times with his bodyguards, giving out alms to the poor as well. While he did it more for the sake of appearance, his skeptical subjects were nevertheless pleased with the money they got and morale in the forsaken district had never been higher. In fact, the whole city had been in a jubilant mood and they were much happier than they had ever felt in the past few years.

* * *

But while the people were in a mood for celebration, there was a corner within the city where nothing light or joyful could penetrate the thick misery that permeated in the air. Within one of the elegant buildings in the red light district, a young girl, no older than fifteen, was dragged across the dark, damp corridor with her hands bound, her eyes blindfold and her mouth gagged. She tried to scream through the gag, but no sound came out, and when she tried to wriggle away from her captors' grasp, all she managed was to get herself slapped multiple times until her face was red from their handprints. The hot tears that came flooding down made her swollen face stung even more.

Her tired legs almost gave out, but her captors paid no mind. They continued on in a hurried pace until they came to an abrupt stop in the darkness. There, she was roughly unbound and then pushed through the door unceremoniously. She anticipated the pain as her body hit the floor, but was relieved as she felt a pair of bony arms reached out to catch her in time. A wave of nausea hit her as the suffocating stench of sweat and blood and bodily excrement overpowered her sense of smell. Frantically, she spat out the gag and struggled to get the blindfold out of her eyes, then wished that she hadn't, for as her eyes adjusted to the dim light of the room, the picture that appeared before her was even more horrendous than she could ever dream of. She saw a throe of women and girls of all age looking at her, some with pity brimming in their eyes while others simply turned away. Most of them, if not all, were ill-treated and some severely malnourished.

"Poor thing." The voice came from owner of the pair of arms that held her steady, and the young girl turned to see an old woman with a kind face. Her eyes went wide as she clearly saw the state the wizened old lady. Numerous scars from whiplash spread across the visible parts of her body. She was so thin and her cheeks were hollowed, an obvious sign that their jailors hadn't been feeding her well.

Then, she turned around to see her prison. She was being put in an overcrowded medium-sized room, with almost twenty others as her fellow inmates. There was not a single furniture in this room, and only a single source of lighting, and there was not even a window. Thankfully, there was a proper toilet, even if it afforded no privacy and the stench from there was almost unbearable. There was also a source of water, but that was all that there was. The only way in and out of this room was the metal door that was now locked tight. The girl rushed to the door only to see that it had no handle on the inside, not even a keyhole, eliminating all possibilities of lock-picking.

As she slumped against the door, overwhelmed by despair, she started to sob again. Then, she felt a cool, damp fabric gently rested against her face and winced as the coldness stung her swollen face. It felt better as she became used to the now soothing coolness, and she turned to see the same old woman watching her with sad eyes. She put her hands around the young girl, silently trying to offer what little comfort that was possible in this dire situation.

The girl cried bitterly in the old woman's embrace as she berated herself for being careless over and over again. She should have listened to Iruka-sensei. She regretted dismissing his warnings and called him an old fool who would remain in the slum forever. She should have known there was no easy way to make money in this world. Instead of steering clear of trouble, she had to trust the man who came to offer her an easy job that promised a lot of money. She followed him in the hope of making a future for herself, not knowing she was the one who held the hammer that put the last nail onto her own coffin, and now she would pay for her stupidity for the rest of her life.

She continued weeping until there was no more tears left, and that was when she found her voice again.

"What will happen to me?" She asked to old woman who sat with her. Even though she dreaded what she would be hearing, she needed to know her fate.

The old woman hesitated, but in the end decided to speak. Her voice was the barest of whisper, as if she was afraid of being heard.

"Once in a while, they will auction us off to the highest bidder." She said grimly. "The younger girls are either sold to brothels or to ninja clans. If they show potential of being able to use chakra, they will be sold to ninja clans first, since they fetch higher price. If not, or if they are pretty enough, they will be sold to brothels. The ones left will be sold off as slaves or laborers if they look strong and hearty."

The girl looked at the frail old lady and asked. "What about you?"

"If someone cannot be sold after a while, they would…" She swallowed thickly as she tried to get the words out. "They simply disappeared."

She inwardly prayed to whatever gods that existed in the universe that someone would notice she was missing soon.

* * *

Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the creature in front of her as it leisurely cleaned its muddy-colored fur despite having been thoroughly brushed just a few moments ago. It lifted its front paw to its face and gave a lick in the most adorable manner, but Sakura wasn't fooled. Despite looking completely docile, Sakura knew from her past experience that beneath the tame façade, the creature was one of the most vicious specimens she had ever had the misfortune to behold.

While she had always known that fate had a wry sense of humor, she had never imagined that it would be cruel enough to send Tora along to be reincarnated in this cycle as Lady Shijimi's wayward pet, again. And the fact that she was fated to take care of it yet again was just what she expected of the cruel and fickle fate. Some being up there in the Heaven must be laughing at her expense right now as she sat up rigidly as the feline stretched itself languidly upon her lap, obviously luxuriating in her discomfort.

Despite the appearance of being completely docile, Sakura knew better than to trust Tora not to turn its sharp claws against her. She remembered Tora's disposition well enough from the all-too-frequent pet-chasing missions that Team Seven was... obligated to accept. She remembered how Naruto used to hate the cat almost as much as being assigned on the mission to recapture it, while Sasuke simply loathed the 'thing' despite his affinity to the ninja-cats. Both her boys had been scarred enough from their encounters to last them a lifetime, and even though Sakura was spared the worst of it by her teammates, she didn't manage to escape Tora's claws altogether. In fact, the encounters with Tora almost killed her love for felines entirely, had it not been for the ninja cats she met later.

And Tora being Tora, it did not change one bit from its past self. If anything, it had become even more devious than she remembered. In the past, he used to spend most of his time trying to escape the agonizing clutch of his overly affectionate owner, but now he also amused himself by tormenting others. It often laid in wait in dark corner of the room and under various furniture for the opportunity to exercise its sharp claws against the unsuspecting ladies of court and the maids. This was not to say that he gave up on his escape attempts entirely, of course. The infuriating animal was still finding various ways to flee the place, wreaking havoc in its wake both intentionally and unintentionally.

"So you get the cat duty again, Sakura."

Sakura immediately turned to Tenten, who drawled out amusedly at her friend's obvious dislike of the feline. Granted, it probably deserved the hateful glare it was currently receiving, seeing how it managed to catch Sakura unaware and landed a nasty scratch on her arm the last time she was here.

"Want to switch with me?" Sakura gave Tenten a pleading and desperate smile, but Tenten only grinned back deviously.

"Not a chance." Sakura huffed indignantly at how amused Tenten looked, but Tenten remained unperturbed and said smugly. "Besides, you should be honored to be chosen for this duty. After all, seeing how much Lady Shijimi loves this cat, this is the surest sign of favors and the greatest show of trust she could bestow upon anyone."

As it was in the life she knew before, Lady Shijimi still bestowed _a lot_ of affection upon her pet, when it suited her, of course. She liked to squeeze the life out of the thing every once in a while, but due to her position as the Fire Daimyo's principal wife, she had to spend much of her time performing her duties. During those times, the care of her beloved feline would be forced… or rather, graciously bestowed upon her subjects. For some strange reasons, Lady Shijimi seemed to think Sakura was very well-suited to the task and often put the cat into Sakura's hands before she could even think about how to decline such a request. Today had not been any different, of course. Just as she was conversing pleasantly to Sakura and a few other girls about the art of incense-mixing and squeezing the life out of Tora, they were interrupted by the visit of the ambassador from the Land of Tea, who politely requested a private audience with her. Before Sakura could even blink, she found the muddy furball unceremoniously dumped into her lap and then, with a practiced flourish, Lady Shijimi and her senior ladies whisked themselves away in mere minutes, leaving her amidst the sympathetic gaze from the other remaining ladies. Although these young ladies were most of the time friendly to her, they knew well enough to steer clear from the range of Tora's claws, thus leaving Sakura to her unfortunate and lonely fate.

"I'm going to get you back for this." Sakura muttered darkly at the cat while Tenten burst out laughing. But just as she was about to rant to the brunette, she was interrupted by the sounds of approaching footsteps that announced the arrival of a visitor to Lady Shijimi's quarter.

Both girls, and the rest of the ladies in the room, straightened up immediately and turned toward the door, which was opened by an imperial guard who was stationed at in this quarter. With a clear voice, he announced the throng of visitors who waited at the entrance.

"Shinichi-sama has arrived."

The whole room scrambled from their relaxed state into immediate order. All conversations turned into a soft yet excited murmur, and the ladies rose as gracefully as possible from their seating, and as Shinichi-sama entered with his entourage in tow. Even Sakura and Tenten, whose interests at court were fleeting at the best of times, rose with a sense of urgency at the arrival of this man.

For he was not just any ordinary man. He was, in fact, the first-born son of the Daimyo and Lady Shijimi, and the heir to the Daimyo title that had been passed down for many generations. He was approaching his thirtieth year soon, yet his face seemed to belong to that of a much older man, thanks to the indulgent lifestyle he had been leading ever since he had come of age. He had never been much to look at to begin with, thanks to his parents' genetics, but with a habit of heavy indulgence in fine food and drinks, his appearance deteriorated even further. His already weak chin, the courtesy of his mother, began to double out and his body had rounded out considerably.

However, the less than appealing appearance had not hindered his effort in getting himself drunker and fatter, nor did it hampered his conquests of women either. In fact, the company that he kept was one of the things he was quite well-known for throughout the land. The company of loose women and young nobles who were good at nothing but drinking and gambling away their fortunes.

While this might not endear him to the population, it was almost certain that he would become the next Fire Daimyo, for his family, or rather, his mother's noble clan, was the power that backed the Daimyo's position. While the family was by no means the descendants of the noblest bloodline, they controlled almost a quarter of the Land of Fire's economy. Without their support, the Daimyo's financial position would be severely weakened. Truthfully, this had always been the reason why Lady Shijimi's place as his principal consort were never disputed, despite the Daimyo's amorous affairs with many other nobler and more beautiful women. It was out of need, rather than loyalty, that he chose to elevate her above all other women, and as he continued to 'need' her family's help, it was only a matter of time before he was forced to name his eldest son the inheritor of his title and legacy. The court, of course, knew this well and did all they could to get on his good side, going as far as proclaiming him the 'Fire Prince', a title that seemed to please the man greatly.

Sakura inwardly grimaced as she surreptitiously observed the so-called 'prince'. This was the man they expected to lead the country in the future. She doubted he could lead anyone past the alehouse in the red light district. But her thoughts were interrupted as one of the senior ladies left in charge in the room rushed to the front to greet him. She executed an immaculate greeting and the rest of the ladies swept into an impeccable greeting that they had been taught well before they arrived at court. Despite her disdain for the man, Sakura bowed low with the rest of them and kept her opinion to herself. After all, the court was no place for a naïve girl who said anything and everything that crossed her thoughts. This was a place where an unintentional mistake could lead to an often unwarranted, or even undeserved, repercussions that was often more severe than one could imagine.

And with this 'prince', a slight mistake could lead to a catastrophic disaster. Despite his loose lifestyle, he guarded his own position as jealously as a snake guarding its eggs, and lashed out unpredictably every time his authority was challenged. Examples of people who paid heavy price for pointing out his flaws were abundant. His older teachers and advisors who meant well were ultimately pushed aside, or worse, punished for their 'insolence'. An old teacher who used to be particularly well-regarded had only to speak out of turn to be exiled with his family, never to return to the Capital again until the day he died, while one of his father's advisors who were brave enough to condemn his philandering behavior was accused of corruption and was imprisoned for life with all of his properties confiscated while his family was forced into poverty. After such examples, there were no more people who dared to speak up or show their concern for his behavior.

Not that this could assuage his increasingly volatile temper, for he was feeling a lot of pressure from the population of the Land of Fire lately. His recent escapades in one of the red light establishments and his failure to eliminate the banditry in the north had a severe negative impact on his popularity among his future subjects, who were beginning to look for another candidate in whom they could trust to lead their future. This had considerably soured his mood to the point that his constant hangers-on began to watch every word that came out of their mouth, even their incessant flattery that used to be so well received before.

That was why the mood in the whole room tensed considerably. This was apparent to all except the cause of the tension who, thankfully, seemed to be in a jovial mood today.

"I see my mother is keeping a merry court today!" He swept in with an air of sophisticated confidence. If there was something that he could do well, it was putting on appearance. "Where is she, by the way?"

"She is meeting with the ambassador from the Land of Tea, my lord." The senior lady breathlessly stammered out the answer, fearing that his temper might flare if the answer displeased him somehow. "I believe she will be back shortly."

"Then I will wait for her here." Fortunately for her, he didn't seem to take offense at this. She discreetly took a breath of relief and immediately gestured for the maid to bring in refreshment for him and his entourage consisting of around ten young noblemen who almost always accompanied him on his trips to 'inspect' one particular part of the city. But though they were a boisterous lot, even ones such as them knew enough to keep their polite façade on within Lady Shijimi's sanctum, so they were relatively well-behaved saved for their attempts to flirt with the young and beautiful ladies in this room. The semblance of light and airy mood returned to the atmosphere, and once again conversation hummed softly throughout the place. Lord Shinichi turned to strike a pleasant conversation to a group of beautiful ladies in the room, drawing flushes from their face with his witty compliments while the rest of his coattails hung on to his every word and shamelessly cheered him on.

As Sakura watched the scene playing itself out, she felt herself so detached, as if she was separated from them by an unseen wall of glass, as if she was watching from outside rather than being in the room with them. As each of them rambled on and on about poetry and music and hid their true intention beneath the smiles and the genteel talk, she felt herself drifting even further from them all. They were such bright young people that had such brilliant minds. They were the best that the Land of Fire had to offer. Yet, all their potential were completely wasted in focusing on things that didn't matter. They could have been doing something else, like finding a way to alleviate suffering of the poor, to improve the lives of people and to end the problems about banditry in the north and south. Instead, there were nothing in their heads but how to gain more influence, more riches and more power, either for themselves or for their own family and clan.

While she had come to court by the urging of Yasuhiro and Kakashi to make as many connections and gain as much influence as possible, she began to doubt what she accomplished here. Even though she had successfully connected with these people, she felt it was still superficial, and so far she had found no other likeminded allies for her cause to better the world. They were all too absorbed in their own self-importance to see the world around them falling apart, and as days rolled by, she began to run out of reasons to return here anymore.

While Sakura's attention was thus diverted as she watched the picturesque scene before her, Tora took this opportunity to land a long streak of claw marks on Sakura's grip. Just as she yelped out in surprise and accidentally loosened her grip, it squirmed out of her hands, dashed towards the opened door to the veranda and made its escape towards the summer garden.

Sakura blushed as she found all eyes in the room turned to her at once, so she bowed and muttered an apology before taking her leave to chase after the godforsaken creature as graciously as possible. The Daimyo's son waved his hand magnanimously and turned back to his conversation without sparing her another glance.

Now, all that was left to do was to scour the entire city for the whereabouts of the infernal cat before Lady Shijimi returned.

Gods, how she hated that cat.

* * *

Naruto gave a big yawn as he listlessly watched Tsunade rolling the dice for the umpteenth time of the day with such ferocity that had not been seen anywhere outside of battle. Honestly, one would think that since history had changed itself so much, the least she could have done was to lose this gambling habit of hers. Apparent, it was not to be. She was determined to keep this habit of hers across time and history. Unfortunately for her, she also kept her status as the 'legendary sucker' as well, so it wasn't hard to wonder why almost any gambling house would welcome her with opened arms.

He grumbled under his breath and thought of his master, the Ero-Sennin, was mysteriously absent from her side for the first time since they reached the Fire Capital three days ago. The glint in his master's eyes told him something was up, but the old stubborn man refused to let him go with him, wherever he meant to go. He simply said that one of them needed to accompany the Senju Princess to make sure she didn't lose too much money and disappeared before Naruto could even say how lame that excuse was. Obviously, no one could stop her from losing money without losing a limb or two anyway.

As he watched the scene around him sullenly, he wondered why his mother insisted that he accompanied the two old people here anyway. For an eye-opening experience, she had said, but so far, he didn't think the experience here was worthy of such a comment. Sure, it was a really grand gambling house that quite surpassed the others he sneaked into in terms of appearance and the stakes that people were betting on. The amount of money that was put on the table each time was enough to feed a peasant family for a month. But other than that, he didn't see why he needed to be here at all.

As his boredom quite reached its limit, he finally blurted out at Tsunade who was still so focused on the next roll of the dice.

"Tsunade-baachan, let's just get going." He drawled out as he stood next to her and looked over her shoulders onto the shrinking pile of coins she had in front of her. "We've been here for like five hours already! Let's get a move on!"

"Quiet, brat!" She shushed the young man without even looking back. "My luck is coming any moment now. I can just feel it."

Naruto inwardly protested at that. That luck she had been waiting for for the past decade was not coming anytime soon, but even he knew enough to not say that to her face.

"Just go somewhere already!" Obviously annoyed by his presence, Tsunade turned to shoo him from looking over her shoulders. "Come back in a few hours, alright?"

Then, without sparing him another glance, Tsunade turned back to the game at the table.

Seeing that she wouldn't budge from the spot anytime soon, Naruto decided to get out of the stuffy place for a bit. After all, there were so much more to see in the city than just a gambling haunt, even if it was a nicer-looking one. It made no sense to be staying inside on such a beautiful afternoon anyway when the sky was so blue and so clear. He made his exit from the place and headed out from the red light district. The streets were thankfully empty of the courtesans since it was still too early, so he managed to make his way out without harassment from that quarter.

With Naruto being Naruto, his first instinct was to find the first available ramen stand and eat his fill, for he felt that he had been deprived of it for far too long. Ever since he was sent to live in this world, he hadn't been able to find himself any ramen at all. There wasn't any in the Hidden Whirlpool or in the Senju clan. So far he had had to manage without and it was practically killing him from inside. Since he had heard that the Fire Capital was the place where you could find anything and everything, he had pinned all his hopes in finding at least one ramen stand here.

With such a resolution, the most sensible thing for Naruto to do was to head to the merchant district. The streets was, as expected, packed with throngs locals and visitors, both seemingly enjoying the festivities that were abound. Endless makeshift stands selling everything from food and sweets to little clever toys and exotic things stretched from one end of the road to the other, creating a busier feel in the streets than usual. The shops were not to be outdone either and they were decorated with myriads of colorful paper lanterns as well as flags and signs of welcome. Everywhere he looked went, there were colors from the decorations and noises from people talking and yelling all at once. The overall atmosphere was far more vibrant than any place he had ever been to, even the Konoha he remembered.

Naruto had never been this excited in a long while. One minute he was darting energetically from one shop to another stall, and in the next he was pushing through the crowd to watch the street-play in the front row. Everything was new to him, in a way. Since he spent most of his life in a very ninja-oriented environment, namely Konoha in his previous life, and then the Hidden Whirlpool and Senju clan in his current one, he often wondered what it was like to live in a civilian-oriented city like this one. So this was definitely an opportunity he wasn't going to miss out on.

Then, finally, after approximately an hour search and a few dango sticks later, he spotted a familiar sign hanging from the roof of a narrow shop front in one corner of an overcrowded street. On the white canvas, the red characters that stood out brightly and Naruto's heart was doing a double-take as he read it.

'Ichiraku Ramen' was written on that sign.

Feeling as if salvation was at hand, Naruto cut through the crowd straight into the shop he wanted to find for a long time. As he went inside, he was greeted by the sound of familiar chorus and a few familiar faces.

"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen!" Sure enough, that was the greeting from the old man Teuchi, who was looking as hale and hearty as ever. "We have the best ramen in the entire Fire Capital, and don't let anyone tell you any different!"

Naruto sat on the first available seat he found at the counter. The place was, as expected, brimming with customers. Then, a cup of hot tea was placed in front of him.

"Welcome, welcome!" Ayame cheerfully greeted Naruto. "What would you like for today? Our miso ramen is on special today!"

Naruto couldn't grin any wider, and he spent the next hour devouring as many bowl of ramen as was physically possible for a young man of sixteen years. In the process, he managed to shock Teuchi, Ayame, and the rest of the customers in the shop with his impressive stack of ramen bowl beside him.

"My god, this breaks the old record anyone has ever set by far." Ayame muttered to herself as she kept tally of how many bowls this new customer had gone through already. Teuchi was simply brimming with pride as Naruto finally put his chopstick down and slurped all the soup in the bowl dry.

"Thanks for the meal!" He called out happily as he cradled his full stomach contentedly. "Man, did I eat! That was so delicious! I have wanted to eat this all my life!"

"I have never seen anyone so appreciative of my ramen!" Teuchi seemed so touched by Naruto's words that there was a suspicious glisten of tears forming at the end of his eyes. "I must know your name, young man! I'm going to put your name on our new record board!"

He gestured towards the board hanging on the wall on the far end of the shop with a list of names with the number of bowls written next to it. By doing a simple calculation in his mind, Naruto realized that he had eaten his way to the top of the board.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He announced proudly to the old man, jabbing his thumb on his own chest. "I'm the-"

But just as he was about tell them about how he was the greatest ninja in the whole world, something came hurtling through the window at an incredible speed, crashing all the things in its path. The patrons inside the shop yelled out in surprise. Some thought they were being under attack and fell down on the floor, hiding under the tables. Fortunately for the safety of everyone and everything in this establishment, Naruto had the presence of mind and the reflex to instinctively reach out and grab the incoming missile before it crashed into the stacking bowls and made a mess of everything.

The little 'missile' turned out to be a living thing, squirming desperately to escape Naruto's capture. He hissed out in pain as he felt the creature's claw against his skin and tightened his grip to get a better look at the little furball that was attacking him with everything it had.

It took him a couple of minutes to finally put a name to the fierce brown feline that was eying him with great animosity when it wasn't trying to claw his hands to bits. But when the recognition dawned, he almost dropped the cat in surprise.

"What the- TORA!?"

* * *

That was how Naruto ended up with the task he used to hate with every fiber of his being, the task of delivering this cat back to its beloved owner.

Ayame had told him that this cat always managed to escape even the tightest guards of the Fire Palace and often wandered into the city to bring about as much havoc as was possible, and lately, it had taken a liking to 'visit' Ichiraku before being captured again by the resourceful servants of the Daimyo's wife.

"This is the third time this month already that the cat barges in here!" Ayame whined as she assessed all the damages the cat had caused. Since it had chosen to make its entrance through the window this time, all the items that had been placed on the window sill were now scattered around the floors. While a few of them were broken beyond repair, some were still salvageable. However, restoring the place its former neatness would take some time.

So, she turned to Naruto and begged him to take to Tora back to the Fire Palace.

"Please! It would take me hours just to sort out this mess already, and I don't want to waste any more time." She put her hands together as a gesture of asking for a favor. "You can keep the reward for bringing the damn thing back!"

While Naruto wasn't a sucker for rewards, he sure felt sorry for both Ayame and Teuchi for having to deal with the mess Tora made, so he agreed to help them out. But as he walked through the streets to get the Fire Palace, he had to restrain the urge to simply drown in cat in the sewers more than a few times as it fought him all the way. It tried to squirm away and scratch his hands to ribbons, all the while managing to look like a helpless victim who had been manhandled, causing many passerby in the street to look at him as if he was a coldhearted murderer without a drop of kindness in his body.

"Of all the things that gets a second chance at life, why does it have to be this cat?" He grumbled under his breath as he deftly caught the cat's paw before it landed yet another scratch. "I had to work my ass of and almost save the entire world before I get this chance, and what does this cat every do?"

Tora growled back as an answer as it used to legs to try to push itself off of him, without much luck of course. Naruto, who had had more than enough past experience in handling this particular cat, knew enough to never let his guard down, and much to Tora's dismay, they arrived at the servant's gate of the Fire Palace half an hour later with Tora having added at least three more claw prints on Naruto's arms.

Having seen Naruto's approach, one of the guards at the gate stepped up. "State your business."

"I'm returning this cat to Lady Shijimi." He held the cat out to the guard, intent on passing the burden of cat's guardianship as soon as possible. However, the guard stepped back right away out of the cat's reach.

"Umm… You take it inside to Lady Shijimi's quarter, eh?" He then quickly gestured to his junior who stood with him at the door. "You, show him the way."

The junior guard nodded and quickly stepped ahead of Naruto in order to leave as much distance between him and the cat as possible. They walked the beautifully designed garden past various palace complexes until they reached a smaller structure which Naruto assumed was the servant quarter. The junior guard quickly rapped on the door.

"Someone brought Tora back." He said quietly, and almost instantly, the door was pulled opened to reveal a younger looking servant girl who looked immensely relief to hear those words. Her eyes shot instantly to Naruto and she let out a huge sigh as she reached her hands out to take Tora from Naruto.

"Thank you so much, Mister…?" She spoke in such a grateful tone that Naruto kind of felt sorry for her. It must have been her job to look for the troublesome little thing.

"I'm Naruto." He supplied helpfully as he handed Tora over to her and felt a wave of relief as she tightened her grip on the animal immediately.

"Well, you seem to know your way around this little devil." Tora growled threateningly at the comment. "I guess I'll be going now."

"What about your reward?" The young girl called out after Naruto as he was just about to turn away to leave.

"You keep it." Naruto replied with a big, friendly grin, and the girl's eyes brightened immediately.

"Are you sure?" She asked, seemingly incredulous that someone was turning away the reward for once. "You seemed to have gone through quite a bit of trouble to bring him here…"

"I'm sure." He smiled at her beaming expression as she pocketed the small pouch of coin that was usually given as a reward to those who brought the cat back. "I've got to get going soon anyway, so good luck with that cat, eh?"

"Thank you so much, mister!" She beamed brightly at him and bowed at him before turning to go back inside the palace complex. Naruto was also prepared to leave as well before her next words froze him completely on the spot just as she closed the door on him.

"Tora, you bad cat! Oh, Sakura-san will be so relieved that you're back!"

* * *

**Author's note**

Can someone tell me what's the deal with the 'Naruto and the scarlet spring' thingie that's been flooding tumblr? I've been away from internet for about two months and when I came back, bam! I have no idea what's going on anymore. So someone please take pity on me and let me know what's going on, please?

On this chapter, I have to say I've been writing and rewriting it for the past two months, but my writing muse wasn't (still isn't) cooperating with me as well as I hope it would. But after almost 10 rewrites, I decided that enough is enough. I want to get on with the story and push forward. I still hope to god the chapter reads alright, though. So let me know what you think, yes? Please? Pretty please? (That's a not-so-subtle way to ask for your review.)

And before I forget, thanks all again for reading this story. I'm praying that you all enjoy it! And I hope to see you again next chapter, my lovely readers :D


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